Dangers of the Realms
by MetalGeneral
Summary: Thor gains access to the newest hit game: an RPG done inclusively in virtual realty. Over time he builds up a powerful party, but they soon find out that not only can they not escape the game, but their very lives are now at stake. Can Thor survive the horrors of the game and escape with his and his friends' lives?
1. Obtaining Fortune

Marvel Industries had spent nearly decades perfecting what they claimed would be the newest hit sensation all over the world. In theory, it was a simple project: a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Only, the experience was in virtual reality, and you supposedly experienced it completely immersed while asleep. Thor's youngest sibling, always eager to put their psychology studies to good use, had mentioned how this would potentially interrupt a person's sleep cycle and cause both exhaustion and short-term memory loss in those who used it, but what did Thor know? If the system had been studied extensively for as long as Marvel Industries claimed, then surely they had worked their way around the issue.

Another point of interest was that Marvel Industries had been working in close partnership with Stark Industries, so of course the final product had to be astounding. Thor had only ever heard of good things coming from those Stark people, and they wouldn't let anything slip past them.

As it stood, the prototypes for the new game and system were ready, and Marvel had been looking for one thousand beta testers to run through and try it out. They needed people to playtest their product, looking for bugs and giving their opinions on what was presented. Contests and drawings were held all over the world, many people eager to try out this world changing system.

When the local mall held one of those stupid drawings amongst all its stores, Thor had entered as a joke, convincing his friend Fandral to do so as well. Hogun, Volstagg, and Sif had opted out of it, knowing damn well none of them were going to be chosen as beta testers. Low and behold Thor's astonishment when not only did Fandral win the drawing, but Thor did as well. Their friends had been stunned to silence when they received the news, not quite believing it even as Thor held two securely packed boxes in his arms. They had opened the boxes, and sure enough, two VR headsets were within, an instruction booklet a mile long contained within each.

Fandral, much to Thor's disappointment, refused to accept the headset. Too much responsibility, too much risk, and too much time wasted if the set broke. Fandral had little interest in video games in the first place, so Thor should not have been so surprised by his refusal, but it was still a hard fact to swallow. This was the opportunity of a lifetime. Once the technology and game were properly released, Thor knew it would cost far too much money to purchase. Being able to have a set for free was too good to pass up. So what if the set might be faulty, or if the VR messed with your head at night? Thor was eager to try it.

Hogun had stared at Fandral's abandoned headset in contemplation for some time, but declined to take it as well. Sif and Volstagg had no desire to try it out at all. Thor had tried to appeal to Hogun. He knew the man was interested, but ultimately, he claimed that it felt wrong accepting it, as it belonged to Fandral. Fandral made it clear he was willing to give it up for Hogun, but in the end, Thor found himself back at home with two VR headsets. Why was he allowed Fandral's set, but not Hogun? His quiet friend's logic confused him sometimes, but he had already gotten over it. The device would be given to one of Thor's younger siblings, and that was that.

That was how the whole family found themselves in the family room, discussing the issue. Thor didn't believe it would have been such a great deal, but his father saw the potential in the sets and saw them for the opportunity that they were. It was odd to hear Odin say such things about a _video game_ of all things, but as someone who took their job as mayor quite seriously, Odin didn't want his son wasting the responsibility that had been put on him and Fandral. That is to say, his father knew how much money those headsets would cost in the future, and he didn't want to be charged for _two_ just because no one did their job and beta tested them.

The real issue was who would use the second set. Thor rightfully owned the first and had thought he'd be able to simply give it to whoever volunteered, but Odin had made a family ordeal of it. It had to be given to whoever the family agreed on. So, Thor sat on the floor, both sets in front of him. Baldur sat to his right while Vidar was a little off to the left. Beside Vidar on the floor, leaning against the couch, was Hödr. The second oldest and second youngest brothers inspected the two headsets with much intrigue, and while their middle brother Hödr could not see them due to his blindness, he was listening with rapt attention as Vidar described them to him.

The only person on the couch was Loki, who paid the headsets no attention whatsoever. Loki had glanced at them in interest when Thor brought them in, but once Odin made it clear that the family was going to decide on who got the second one, his youngest son (Thor took a quick glance at Loki's attire just to confirm it wasn't daughter today) had buried himself in a book and refused to look up since.

"I believe the second set should go to Baldur," Odin proclaimed, sitting on an armchair across from the couch. "He's the most reliable of you lot, and I trust him to take his job seriously."

The 'suggestion' from Odin had not been unexpected. The whole family knew their father's tendency to play favorites; he certainly made no effort to hide it. Thor and especially Baldur were the golden children and could do no wrong. Thor knew of this and often felt guilty for it, but that was when he didn't let his father's praise get to his head. Being the oldest son had its perks. While Baldur was the measly second youngest, he certainly made himself known through his selfless actions, reliability, and overall success in everything he did. Baldur was, essentially, the perfect son. Of course Odin would want him to have the second set.

"But what of Hödr?" came the calm yet stern voice of the boys' mother, Frigga. Where Odin played favorites, Frigga was always there to remind Odin's less favored children of their importance. She stood beside Odin's armchair, giving her husband a wary look. "His blindness has affected him his entire life. Would this not be a chance for him to live life the same way we all do? To experience sight as he has always dreamed?"

Thor glanced at his middle brother as Frigga spoke, seeing the way Hödr's breath hitched and his fingers shook. Thor hadn't even thought about that. Despite his early acknowledgments, Thor had been ready to accept Baldur as his companion into the VR game, seeing Odin's (rather shallow) points. It was true that Hödr was often forgotten due to his disability, and he could only thank his mother for being as considerate and thoughtful as she was.

There was no reply from anyone for some time, but then Hödr took a breath. "I thank you for your consideration, Mother, but I believe I will decline."

Frigga's eyes turned to concern as Odin released a sigh. "Are you sure, Hödr?" Frigga pushed.

"I'll admit, it all sounds too good to be true. I could possibly live a life where I am not blind, and yet I find the thought frightening. I don't know what will happen when I put that headset on, and I don't believe I want to know."

"But brother!" Thor interjected. "Your sight! Is the promise of your vision not enough to combat your fears? Take the set as Mother suggests, and join me in sleep tonight! We will have such a grand adventure!"

The corners of Hödr's mouth turned upward ever so slightly, and yet he still declined. "I thank you for the opportunity, brother, but I am sorry. Perhaps in the future, when things are more certain, but not now."

Thor caught Odin giving Hödr a displeased stare, and he was glad that his brother was unable to see it.

"If I may, I have a suggestion," Vidar spoke up. "As Thor won the headsets, should it not be his right to choose who gets the second? If I may be so bold as to say, I feel that the person here least likely to take this seriously is Thor himself, and thus any decision he makes will be infinitely better than what he already has."

"Excuse me, brother!" Thor shoved Vidar in mock annoyance. "You are spoiled by having three younger siblings. You must learn to respect your only elder!"

"While Vidar's argument could have been better worded, I agree with some parts," Frigga said, stopping her two oldest from starting one of their usual fights. "As the headsets rightfully belong to Thor, I see no reason why he cannot choose who receives the second set. All of you are capable enough to test out a video game, even one as complex as this. Don't you agree, Odin?"

Baldur, who had remained in thoughtful silence since the conversation began, finally made himself heard. "I understand you were hoping to entrust the second set to me, Father, but I truly have no interest in such things. I would much rather the game go to someone who would enjoy it."

Odin stared long and hard at his second youngest, clearly wishing he could will the set to go to him, but knew when not to push the calm arguments of his family. "Very well," he sighed out, a tinge of annoyance coating his voice. "Thor shall make the decision, and his word shall be final. Son?"

His father had left it to him, and now it was time for Thor to make a decision. He glanced around the family room at each of his brothers, his eyes landing on one in particular. A grin broke out on his face as he made his choice.

"What adventure would it be if the oldest son of Odin was without the youngest? I shall give the second set to Loki."

Absolutely no one was surprised by this decision minus Loki himself, who finally looked up from his book and gave Thor an incredulous look.

"Do you _really_ think Father's going to be okay with that decision?" Loki spoke, the sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"I said his word would be final, did I not?" Odin nearly spoke over Loki before he finished, giving his youngest son a disapproving stare. Loki, far more used to Odin's ire than any of the other brothers, ignored him and turned back to his book.

Thor knew Loki was interested. The way he had kept staring at the headsets when Thor first came home told him more than he needed to know. There was just no way he was going to let his interest show in front of Odin. Those two had disliked each other since day one, and Thor sometimes had to remind himself that Frigga had _not_, in fact, had anything to do with his youngest brother's adoption. Whatever possessed Odin to bring home a fifth child without consulting anyone, then despising said child, still baffled Thor, but there was nothing he could do about it.

It was some time later in the evening, not long after dinner had ended, that Thor found himself alone with Vidar while they did the dishes. Odin was of course part of the two eldest brothers' conversation.

"As usual, I knew I would be last in line to be chosen," Vidar mentioned offhandedly, though he did so in good cheer, a knowing smirk on his face.

"Whatever do you mean, brother?" Thor inquired, though he had a good enough idea of what he meant. He'd been thinking about it since he arrived home with those two headsets.

Drying off some bowls Thor had handed to him, Vidar chuckled to himself. "Well, we all know how Father is. When it comes to delegating his children to anything, dearest Thor and Baldur will always be given the golden opportunities. Hödr and myself often never cross his mind, and thus we have learned not to expect much in life. Our mother though, she has always been more thoughtful about these things. She knows Baldur has no interest in video games, and she of course realizes how beneficial virtual reality would be to Hödr's sight."

Thor handed Vidar some clean dishes to dry off before returning to scrub some more.

"That does not mean you stood no chance or were the last in anyone's thoughts, brother. You are just as important to us as anyone else."

"And of that I am assured, worry not, brother. I am merely pointing out that to the three people whose opinions mattered most in this issue, everyone was an option but myself. While Father's first choice was obviously Baldur, Mother's was Hödr. And of course, there's you, who plays favorites almost as bad as Father does. It must be a heritable trait."

"Nonsense!" Thor denied, even as an embarrassed smile slipped onto his face. "I am merely looking out for our baby brother, since _someone_ must."

"You and Loki have been inseparable since Father brought him home—what was it, seventeen years ago?"

"Eighteen, I believe."

"I can't keep track of anyone's age anymore. I often can't even remember my own," Vidar admitted, putting his rag down. "Will you be finishing with that plate anytime soon? It is the last dish and I would like to return to Baldur."

Thor handed Vidar the last plate, ignoring his brother's impatience. "Baldur can be trusted to finish his projects on his own. He does not need constant supervision."

"Yes, but he does enjoy the company when he works, and I know a fair bit more about painting than the rest of you lot here."

"Mother surely has some experience with all of that nonsense."

"And I believe Father has required her assistance in his office for the evening. So, it falls to me to ensure that our little brother has the company he needs."

"But what of Hödr?"

Vidar put the final plate on the dry stack, and the two began putting them all away. He turned to give Thor an admonishing look, but left it in favor of shoving some pans away in the bottom cupboard.

"How do you suppose a blind man is to give constructive criticism of a painting? You have a brain somewhere in that head of yours, Thor, you need just use it every once in a while."

Thor punched Vidar in the arm, nearly causing him to drop the plates he now held, then reached for the last couple of bowls to put away.

"It's comments like that that make me wonder if you and Loki don't hang out more often than you let on," Thor responded.

"I do my best," was Vidar's short reply. "I fear infringing on the relationship you two hold."

"You do not say the same of Baldur and Hödr, though? They are just as close to each other as Loki and I are, and I see you with them both quite frequently."

"As I said, I do my best," Vidar repeated, his response not answering anything at all. He turned from the cupboards and wiped his hands on a dry cloth. "Now, if we are done here, I believe I will be in Baldur's and Hödr's room. Steer Hödr there if you see him wandering around aimlessly."

"Our brother can navigate his way around the house just fine Vidar, but I will let him know where you are if he asks just the same."

With that, the two nodded and left to head upstairs. Vidar took the first room to the left, and Thor caught sight of both Baldur and Hödr in their shared room before Vidar shut the door behind him. There was no need to worry about Hödr, then. Thor continued onwards to the last room on the right side of the hall, entering and shutting the door behind him as he did so. A reading lamp was on at the far end of the bedroom, Loki quietly reading on his bed beside it, but Thor turned on the overhead lights anyways. His brother gave him an annoyed look at this, but quickly turned back to the large guidebook in his hands.

"Must you always insist on turning every light in the house on?"

"Of course, brother. I would rather not strain my eyes the same way you do," Thor replied, throwing himself onto his own bed.

He turned to the two VR headsets on the side table between their beds, grabbing the box that was already opened by his brother.

"Do you really intend to read that entire manual?" Thor asked, pulling the headset from the box and examining it for the sixth time that day.

"I already knew you weren't going to so much as glance at the first page, let alone read the whole thing, so I figured one of us would need to be well versed in how the game works."

"Says the person who acted as though the game did not interest them just minutes before dinner," Thor grinned, throwing the headset into the air and catching it.

"Don't throw it, you moron!" Loki chided him, looking as though he wanted nothing more than to take the headset from his brother's hands.

"You worry too much, brother," Thor continued grinning. "How difficult could it be to run these things? I doubt we need as long a guide as we have been given for operating them."

"The guide gives in-game advice as well as instructions on how to operate the headsets. You'd benefit from giving it even a minor glance," Loki responded, still giving a wary look at the headset in Thor's hands. It was almost as though he expected Thor to chuck it against a wall. He surely did not believe his brother to be so careless, did he?

Thor laid back against the pillows on his bed, turning the headset around in his hands.

"You said so yourself," he said, "I do not need to read the guide if you yourself are doing so."

"That is absolutely not what I said, but sure, go ahead and believe what you'd like."

"And that is just what I shall do," Thor responded, his grin never leaving his face.

He reached over to put the headset back on the small table between them, pulling his hand back not even inches when the headset tipped over and crashed to the floor. Apparently, he hadn't put it on the table far enough for it to remain there and, yep, Loki was staring at the headset in horror.

"Are you serious, Thor?" Loki hissed, throwing the guidebook aside and jumping off of his bed to pick the set back up. "What did I _just _say about being careful?"

"I believe you said, 'Don't throw it, you moron!'" Thor repeated, though he stood from his bed to check out the set as well. "It certainly doesn't look broken."

"There's a dent and a slight crack where it impacted with the floor," Loki noted, pointing the spot out to Thor.

"That's too small to cause anything wrong, I'm sure. We need just hide this from Father and we will be fine," Thor reassured, though Loki looked far from convinced. "It is your set anyways, so I'm sure you'll work it out on your own."

"Yes, give your brother the set that you just broke. I'll be the one to get blamed if Father sees this, and you know it."

"Better you than I, brother!" Thor clapped him on the back, much to Loki's annoyance.

Settling back on their beds, Loki and Thor returned to their previous tasks of reading and bothering respectively. Nothing else was said of the damaged headset, although Thor caught Loki sending nervous glances its way every now and then. It almost made Thor feel guilty for forcing it on him. Almost.

They remained in their room for the rest of the night discussing the headsets that they would be using once they slept. From what Loki had gathered from the guidebook, they were to set a time for the headset to activate, and once they fell asleep, they would be brought into the game. Despite Loki's earlier concerns about how disruptive the game could be for their sleep, he seemed more than eager to try it out for himself and see the consequences of such a thing. His psychology studies at the university were put to effective use (in Thor's opinion) as he described in great detail exactly why all of this interested him so.

Once they entered the game, they would be brought to a character creation room, where they chose their race, class, and avatar name. Loki explained all of this to Thor, though it all was as straightforward as he suspected it to be. With some pushing and persistence on Thor's part, he convinced Loki that they absolutely needed to have theme names for their avatars. Considering Loki's reluctance, Thor figured that he wouldn't be going along with his older brother's idea at all, despite supposedly agreeing to do so. Thor had years of experience with his brother, and knew that more often than not, "yes" was how Loki said "no" to get people off his back.

Soon enough, they heard the door to the room beside theirs shut, indicating that Vidar had left to his own room to sleep for the night. Being that they were five brothers living in a four-bedroom home with both of their parents, Vidar was the only person to have his own room, much to the confusion of many guests. People usually expected the eldest brother to have his own room. It was often difficult to explain in a dignified manner that when his parents tried to put his new baby brother in Vidar's room, ten-year-old Thor had thrown a temper tantrum. Hödr and Baldur's sleeping arrangements had been easy enough considering they were twins, but young Thor had apparently thought it was his right as eldest to share a room with someone. His parents had complied back then, likely to shut him up. They probably thought Thor would have gotten over it within a year and forced Loki into Vidar's room, but alas, it never happened (much to Vidar's joy. Thor knew how much he loved having his own space).

Loki set the alarm on the side table between their beds, only for Thor to discretely shut it off when he wasn't looking. It was Saturday, and there was no reason for them to get up at the crack of dawn. He wanted to experience his new game for as long as possible. He did not catch Loki turning the alarm back on moments later, but that was how things always worked between them.

The lights came off, the headsets were put on, and Thor could feel both anxiety and eagerness working their way through him. He didn't know how he was expected to fall asleep when he felt like this, but the timer on the headsets worked wonders. There was no way to know how they worked, and Thor didn't care to find out, but once that timer reached zero, he found himself drifting off. With that, Thor was asleep, and already a world around him was forming.


	2. Welcome to the Machine

"Welcome to Yggdrasil: Beta Version. You are one of a thousand beta testers chosen to playtest our newest game. My name is J.A.R.V.I.S., the moderator for this version of Yggdrasil. I will now guide you through the character creation so that you may begin your journey."

The room before Thor had been pure white, but with the end of the AI's introduction, many screens flashed before him. In front of him stood a mirror image of himself, the screens around said mirror image displaying the information Loki had so kindly forced Thor to learn about earlier.

There was information about what race he wanted to be: human, mutant, Aesir, Jötun, dark elf, light elf, Vanir, and much more. Thor had impatiently cut Loki off when he had tried to list off all of the races earlier, but now he was beginning to regret that. Every race appeared to have its own strengths and weaknesses, and each showed proficiency in different classes with their stats. Fortunately, though, Thor _recognized_ most of the races offered. They were clear references to Norse mythology, as was the name of the game. He did not know if Yggdrasil would remain once the game was out of its beta phase, but it excited him either way.

Thor had grown up hearing much about Norse mythology and the figures in it. His parents were both obvious fans, and he knew that the naming tradition in their family came from Odin's side (which always made Thor wonder just _how_ Frigga got her name. Her side of the family wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as Odin's was). Thor sometimes wondered if Odin had adopted Loki for the sole purpose of _having _a fifth child to name such, and while he didn't put it past his father, the thought still often worried him.

Either way, taking stats and his own knowledge of Norse mythology into account, Thor knew what his only option for a race was: Aesir. A strong, proud race that relied heavily on pure physical strength and defense to get them through tough situations. He was named after the god of thunder himself, so it was more than fitting.

Very little changed about his mirror image once he made his decision, only that he appeared to get slightly buffer and taller. There was nothing to complain about there. Buffer and taller was good. He had always been jealous of Vidar for being the tallest in the family, and now it looked like he might be able to compete with him in that aspect, even if only in virtual reality.

The next task was to choose a class. There were four main classes to choose from, each with its own set of subclasses that made up your skills in the game. These classes were warrior, sorcerer, mechanist, and rogue. Thor knew immediately that he wanted warrior, but once the subclasses came up, he was at a loss for what he truly wanted. Berserker immediately struck him as appealing, if only for its raw strength. He didn't know if he would particularly enjoy losing control like that though, and kept it as a Plan B if nothing else popped out at him. The monk subclass looked powerful, but fought with their fists. Thor wanted a weapon; preferably a hammer, like the real god of thunder.

He strayed for a moment on the knight subclass, as it was a versatile class that was average to proficient with most types of weaponry, but then something else caught his eye: mystic knight. The mystic knight class was proficient with hammers, all right, and they fought by infusing magic into their weapons and armor. Not only would he be able to wield a hammer well, but he could infuse it with _lightning_ to boot. That was _perfect_ for what he was looking for.

Not even bothering to look at his other class options, Thor chose mystic knight, and the clothing on his mirror image changed to fit him. His mirror image now wore a set of light armor. It was obviously the beginner set for the game, likely leather armor by the looks of the chestplate, pants, and boots, but that was an easy enough problem to fix. Just find better armor as he progressed through the game.

His final decision was upon him, which was to name his in-game avatar. This would be the name that everyone would know him by, as revealing your real name was unadvised, and Thor could understand why. He knew that once the game was released and played by millions of people, it would be difficult to come up with a name that hadn't been taken, but he was one of the first to play, and knew there would be little issue in that matter.

He only hoped that Loki would hold true to his word and go with their theme naming, otherwise Thor would be on his own here.

Moments later, God of Thunder spawned in a field just outside of a medium sized merchant town. Thor wasn't entirely certain of how big it was, but he could see the shops lined up at the edge of the town. If this was the beginner town, then that made sense. He supposed there would be some tutorials and beginner quests to go on there as well. There was no time to worry about any of that now, though.

Thor stared at himself long and hard, excitement rushing through him. He wanted to shout and throw his arms up in the air and do just about _anything_. This was astounding! Everything around him looked and felt so real! The grass at his feet, the trees around him with their branches swaying lightly in the breeze. The leaves that would fall unceremoniously to the ground when a particularly strong gust pushed them around. The sky was clear, only one small wisp of a cloud remained, and it looked just as real as everything else around him.

With all of his marvel at the world, the sudden ping and notification that appeared in the lower right side of his vision was nearly missed. For a moment, Thor was uncertain of what to do, but when he tapped the small blue box, a larger message box appeared, this time directly in front of him.

**_God of Mischief_**_ sent a party request_

The fact that Loki had gone along with Thor's naming suggestion was more than enough to keep him giddy, and he hit ACCEPT on his brother's request immediately.

"Oh good, you actually knew how to accept it," he heard his brother from behind him. Entering Yggdrasil had done nothing to quell Loki's ever present demeaning sarcasm.

"Of course, brother!" Thor replied in good cheer, turning to face his only party member.

Whatever race Loki had chosen for his character selection, it didn't do much to help with his scrawny build, so it clearly wasn't Aesir. The dark robes he wore were enough to tell Thor that his brother had chosen a job from the sorcerer class, not that he could immediately tell which. Knowing his foes and other players might be more difficult than he thought if he couldn't even figure his brother out from directly in front of him.

"It's good to see that you didn't choose anything that changed you too drastically!" Thor continued, going in for his typical brotherly clap on the back. He chose to push his worries to the back of his mind for the moment. "I myself chose Aesir as my race, and you can see how much more my body has filled out!"

"Yes, you look just like the meathead I always knew you were," Loki deadpanned, pulling a menu screen up in front of himself and looking something over.

"What race did you choose anyways? Human?" Thor asked. "And what is your class? I chose mystic knight!"

"Yes Thor, I see that," Loki replied in a bored tone. "You can figure all of that out in our party menu. All of my stats should be there."

"Oh, we have a party menu? Just for us? How do I access that?"

"Maybe if you actually listened when I explained everything before, you would know, now wouldn't you?"

Thor tried to keep the annoyed pout off of his face, instead opting to figure it out on his own. He didn't need Loki's commentary on the issue, knowing how his brother was when it came to stuff like this. It wasn't that difficult at all, as a small part of his upper left-hand vision held the word _Menu_, which Thor selected eagerly. From there, he could see his own inventory and stats. He was a level 1 mystic knight Aesir. He had a single skill, which was to imbue a weapon he held with the power of fire for a little less than a minute. Well, fire wasn't exactly what he wanted, but he knew he would learn lightning sooner or later.

The other parts of the menu included the option _Party_, which when chosen brought up two names:

**God of Thunder**, Aesir, lv. 1 Mystic Knight, [no title]

**God of Mischief**, Jötun, lv. 1 Illusionist, [no title]

Thor glanced at Loki, looked back at his party menu, and then glanced back at Loki once again. Remaining silent, he returned to the menu and selected his brother's name, getting more detailed information about him. Loki had no player kills, no infamy, no charity, 100 gold, 0 exp. Everything to expect from a player who had just started. It still said his race was Jötun.

Thor looked at Loki again, who paid Thor no mind as he investigated his own menu.

"You don't _look_ like a Jötun," was all he said. "Are you sure this is right?"

"Of course, brother," Loki confirmed offhandedly, not glancing at him. "I suggest you take note of what my class is, and maybe then you will understand."

Illusionist. So, his brother was hiding his appearance? That didn't make sense, seeing as his brother was clearly only a level 1 illusionist.

"And pray tell, what skill did you use to change your appearance so fast?"

"My class's passive ability allows me to do so. I can hide my appearance by changing my race and sex at will. You should have a passive ability as well," was his brother's response. Well, Thor had absolutely no idea about passive abilities before, so that helped answer his worries somewhat. He would check that out later.

"Loki, why did you choose Jötun as your race if you're just going to hide what you look like?"

Loki finally brushed aside his menu and brought his attention to Thor. He noted that Loki now had to look up in order to meet his brother's eye, which was an unusual sight. While in real life he and Loki were nearly the same height, Thor noted that now Loki was at least a couple more inches shorter than him than before. Understandable, considering Thor's transformation to an Aesir made him taller. He wondered if Loki's true form as a Jötun would make him even larger than Thor. The Jötnar _were_ referred to as frost giants after all.

"You wanted us to fit with the Norse mythology theme, did you not, brother?" Loki answered him. "You did your part: a mystic knight Aesir. The Loki of Norse mythology was a Jötun, so it only made sense that I chose that as my race as well." He sighed, glancing off to the side for just a moment. "I can't tell you how glad I was to find out what my passive ability was once I chose illusionist. Frost giants are not the most pleasant sight I've ever seen."

Thor beamed, for he didn't actually expect Loki to take their Norse god theme so seriously. Loki put just as much thought into his decisions as Thor had, and it made his heart sore. He knew from experience how his brother tended to do the exact opposite of whatever Thor suggested, if only to annoy him. This experience would be so much grander with Loki's cooperation.

"I assume other players cannot see our information unless they too are in our party?" Thor asked when all was said and done.

"My passive ability would be useless if that were the case. Look," Loki pointed at a group of three people chatting away nearby. "You can see those peoples' information, but only their names and levels."

At closer inspection, his brother was right. Their names were Quake, Fitz, and Hunter, and they were all level 1. When he tried to select their names to look at their information, such as race, it was all labeled as _unknown_. Interesting. He wondered if there was a way to know that information without adding them to his party.

With their current discussion resolved, Thor and Loki agreed to check out the merchant town nearby, Thor now scouring his menu to see what more he could learn about himself and the game. He did indeed have a passive ability labeled "Copy I". Two empty slots were below it, unlocked at levels 15 and 30 respectively. He assumed these would be "Copy II" and "Copy III". The ability itself appeared useful for battle: If he had a piece of equipment he was using with an elemental property enchanted on it already, he could use that element and imbue its power to his current weapon. He assumed this was regardless of if he already knew the spell or not.

With more searching, Thor also located an empty slot below his subclass section, which unlocked at level 45. Did this imply that he could have a second subclass at that time? Perhaps he could try out the berserker class after all. There was too much ambiguity surrounding that particular subject, and Thor added it to his mental list of things to ask Loki about later. If he could try the berserker subclass after all, he definitely wouldn't complain.

Finally, he noticed that his race as Aesir included yet another passive ability, though this one did not level up like his class one did. The Aesir passive ability was "Emergency Power Boost", which significantly raised his power and defense when his health was critical. Vaguely, he remembered seeing something about passive abilities in the race selection during his character creation, but had been too excited by the prospect of being a proper god of thunder that he had ignored it entirely.

Further inspection of the party menu showed Loki's subclass passive ability of "Shapeshifting I", and his race passive ability of "Freeze". When selected, he learned that the latter ability provided his brother with resistance to ice magic, weakness to fire magic, and allowed him to imbue weapons with the ice element. Thor made a mental note to watch out for fire users when they were in battle, if only to keep his brother in safe hands. Unlike with the Aesir race, the Jötun passive ability gave them a weakness to go along with their benefit, and it didn't sit well with Thor.

At least Loki's subclass passive ability brought Thor some mirth. He couldn't help the grin that formed on his face seeing what Loki could now do. For the briefest of moments, Thor was beginning to wonder if Loki only chose the illusionist subclass so that he could shapeshift to match his gender, rather than simply following the Norse mythology theme as he claimed. If the former was true, Thor did not think he would mind in the slightest.

The two did not make it far before encountering an enemy, which the game helpfully supplied as a level 1 goblin. As with other players in the game, the enemy's information was unknown, though this was to be expected. Thor was prepared for battle, but realized that he did not, in fact, have a decent weapon. His beginner sword appeared dull, and its strength and durability were horrid, but he supposed he had no better option. The goblin, at least, remained passive and merely stared at them.

It took four strikes to bring the goblin to zero health, and information appeared in front of him telling him of his 5 exp. and 10 gold gain. A glance over at his brother revealed that Loki had the same message before him, and Thor could feel the confused frown forming on his face.

"What did _you_ do to get experience points?" he questioned. "Does the entire party share experience even if one does not participate in battle?"

"I may not have injured the enemy like you did, but I did cast a spell on it. Why do you think it was not attacking?" Loki admonished. "I admit I am not entirely certain of how the experience gains work in a party, but I can tell you that one must at least make a single action during battle to receive anything."

"And what spell is it that you cast?"

"Calm. It looks as though it only works on weaker enemies right now, and I'm hoping I get something considerably more useful soon."

"What weapons is your class proficient with? You can fight physically until you learn better spells if you need to."

Loki spawned his weapon into his hand; a simple staff. He didn't look particularly enthralled by it.

"My class is proficient with staves and knives. I was hoping the merchant town over there would have some knives for sale. I have never been fond of the staff before."

"It increases your magic power though, does it not?"

"My magic power of making a level 1 enemy sit and look stupid?"

They spoke in that same manner for the rest of their short trek to the merchant town. A couple more enemies approached them, which remained almost entirely harmless thanks to Loki making use of his only spell. He made a point to mention how he would be parting from his "useless staff" the moment they made it into town, making a show of his annoyance with his subclass so far.

Their last battle just outside of the town finally raised them both to level 2, much to Thor's excitement. He learned no new skills, but the boost to his power, speed, defense, and magic filled him with glee regardless. Loki had not much to say, as the level gain did nothing for his spell and weapon predicament. His brother had always been a bit more difficult to please.

The merchant town was exactly as Thor would have come to expect from a beginner town. A tavern was nearby, across the street from the large inn. People bustled in and out of it, some at varying levels of intoxication. Thor didn't know if he should be worried more about the fact that you even _could _get drunk in the game, or that a few people were drunk within the first hour of gameplay.

The inn meanwhile was the largest building in the town, directly in the middle. Loki had explained its importance to Thor after pointing it out earlier: When they logged out, their avatars remained in the game in a state of sleep, but were vulnerable to being killed if not in an inn room or tent. Apparently, death caused the loss of one level and half of one's gold, so naturally this was something they wanted to avoid. Only party members could enter a purchased inn room or tent, and as party members could not harm each other, a person would be completely safe when logged out.

As neither Thor nor Loki had much gold to speak of, a tent was far too expensive at the moment, and the inn in the beginning merchant town would be far cheaper. Thor suspected that that would be where they slept once they awoke in real-life.

Distracted as he was by his thoughts, he noted that he had already lost sight of his brother amongst the many shops lined up and down the streets. Loki had shown Thor the messaging system that the game used so people could contact each other, so if Thor desperately needed him, he could message him and let him know. As it stood, there were three options for messaging: private, public, and off. The private setting was for party members only, and no one else would be able to message them. This was what Loki's setting was currently on, ever the people-hater, though Thor did not see the harm in having his own set to public.

Now though, his first order of business was to locate a decent weapons shop. He had very little money with which to spend on such weaponry, but he still hoped for a better sword at the very least. Running around showed Thor more than he had hoped for, helpful NPCs guiding him where he needed to go. Upon reaching the weapons shop, Thor's eye was immediately drawn to a stone hammer. This was likely the second kind of hammer he could obtain after the beginner one, and he wanted it.

The hammer was…insanely expensive, at least compared to the other low-leveled weapons there. He would have only a few spare gold left if he got it; certainly not enough to purchase a new set of armor or any items. Still, he so desperately wanted it, and so he made his (arguably) first impulsive decision of the game. Nearly all of his money was gone, even after selling his beginner sword, but now he had a hammer to complete his transformation into a proper god of thunder.

The money situation would work itself out after more level grinding, as one random player informed him. Enemies would randomly drop items and equipment, and if he was lucky, he could get a better set of armor. Already he had seen this for himself, Loki having confiscated all of the potions they had obtained from their fights on the way to town. No weapons or armor had dropped yet, but hopefully their luck would change during their next outing.

His money spent almost entirely on a hammer, Thor took a look around the other establishments in the town. There was an auction house, which Thor already knew he wouldn't be entering. Whatever was being sold in there, he wouldn't have the money to purchase it (not that anyone else would either, unless they had managed to do some intense level grinding already).

There were NPCs about to explain how someone could start up an actual job to earn money. Thor could choose to be a blacksmith if he really wanted, but he declined. He wanted to put all of his efforts into adventuring! Sure, he could have stayed and talked to them longer, learn more about what jobs entailed and what their benefits were, but Thor dismissed them immediately. The game, as far as he was concerned, was for adventuring, not getting a _job_.

With all of the exploring and confusion at different buildings and stores, Thor almost missed the new message notification when it came up.

**God of Mischief**_: Meet me by the inn. There's some bugs we should talk about already._

Thor had completely forgotten that they were supposed to be playtesting the game, that was how enthralled he had been by everything he was seeing in the town. Leave it to Loki to notice something so quickly.

He found his brother sitting on a bench near the inn as he returned and decided to sit beside him. Immediately he noticed the new set of robes Loki was wearing, and couldn't help the twinge of jealously he felt at that. Thor had wanted a new set of armor himself, but that hammer had been so damn expensive! It depleted him of nearly all of his money.

"You've purchased new robes, I see," Thor commented, wondering if that was all Loki got.

"Yes, I've purchased these, as well as two knives and some more potions. Unfortunately, there wasn't much more I could get, though fighting will remedy that. But forget about that for now. Look at what everyone has been discussing on the forums."

Well, first off, Thor was a little ticked that his brother had managed to buy more than a set of robes, but he complied with his request regardless.

Thor had noticed the forum section at the bottom of the menu when he had been investigating it earlier. Selecting it had brought up discussions players had posted about some bugs and glitches they found, and from there they could also report a bug to the mods and company running the game. Thor hadn't paid much attention to it, preferring to again focus solely on his adventure, but he knew Loki had repeatedly gone back to the forums to check them out from time to time.

"Everyone has been talking about not being able to log out of the game," Loki noted, even as the proof was before Thor's eyes.

Every single discussion so far was about that very issue. It appeared everyone was panicking that they couldn't leave the game, and there were numerous people mentioning that they had reported the issue multiple times, only to not get any response from the mods. A quick search through the entire menu, his messaging section, as well as the settings section, showed that indeed there was no way to log out. Thor gave a wary glance at Loki, who had been looking at him expectantly since Thor first looked into the forums.

"Did the guide say how to log out, brother?" Thor questioned. There was an inkling of worry in his gut, but he tried not to let it show. He needed to be the brave, older brother after all.

"Yes, at the top of the settings menu," Loki replied. He brought up his own menu to show, pointing out where the log out button should have been. "It simply isn't there. I fear that's something they forgot to program in. Idiots, the lot of them," he sneered. He was clearly more annoyed than worried about the issue, likely figuring that it would be fixed sooner rather than later.

"I'm sure they must be working on fixing the problem. After all, I suspect both Marvel and Stark Industries will be in trouble if their beta testers are trapped in the game," Thor tried to reason, getting a quick look from Loki, expression unreadable.

"Oh, I can assure you they'll be in more than enough trouble if they don't fix this soon. They'll be responsible for essentially sending nearly a thousand people into a coma."

"Our family can always remove the headset for us if that is the case."

"No, they can't," Loki muttered, giving Thor a dark look. "Again, you would know this if you had so much as even read the first page of that guide. It specifically stated that under no circumstance should the headsets be removed while still in use. It is unknown if it will cause irreparable brain damage. I warned Mother about it before you came to our room last night. She will guarantee that no one will try to remove the sets while we sleep."

"Even in an emergency?" Thor asked, skeptical. "They couldn't have possibly given us something so potentially dangerous."

"Oh, trust me, the guide said they doubted any brain damage would occur, but they wanted us to remain on the safe side. We're all just disposable guinea pigs for them."

Thor returned back to the forum page, and sure enough, nothing had been done to fix the missing log out button yet. Letting loose a sigh, he brushed the whole menu away. He leaned his head back against the inn wall and closed his eyes. While problems and bugs had been expected, being unable to log out was definitely not among what he thought he'd find. There was nothing they could do, and many people were already reporting the bug even as they sat there, so he figured there was no point in worrying about it at the moment. Everything would be fine.

They were now level 4, out level grinding in the field near the merchant town (which Loki had helpfully supplied as Norms Town) when it happened. Thor had bashed in the head of a goblin just as Loki gutted some arachnid-looking enemy, and they were checking out their new experience and gold gain. A storm appeared to brew in the sky, a loud booming overtaking any other sound for just a moment before an image appeared before them.

It was a man not of human race, nor of any race Thor had seen in the game so far, with a large chin and purple tinted skin. The image did not show the whole of the man, but Thor could tell just by glancing around at other nearby adventurers that everyone must have been able to see him perfectly no matter where they were.

"Hello, beta testers of Yggdrasil. I welcome you to the beta version of this game. I will not reveal my true name, as is the rules of this world, but for now you may call me Thanatos. I'm sure this is not what you all have come to expect from this game. You are not here to truly test this game as its creators intended, but are here to be a part of my personal experiment and enjoyment.

"As many of you have noticed, you are unable to currently log out. As long as I am in control, you will never be able to. The only way to escape Yggdrasil is to either fight and stop me, or to die. I can assure you, most of you will die before you ever even have an inkling of my location. You will die even once you find me, for only those with the power of the six infinity stones will have the strength required to stop me.

"I hope to find at least some amount of challenge from you fine folks here. My lady Death will be pleased with your demise, but do, for all purposes, show me the entertainment I seek. Already there are many of you who have perished, both in game and out. I should warn you that a game over here results in your headset causing an electrical overload to your brain in real life, killing you instantly. The same will happen if someone tries to remove the headsets themselves. I do hope your friends and family take heed of the warnings that were put in place, otherwise you'll end up like the twenty or so people who have already met that fate.

"Perhaps one day I will meet some of you. Until then, I wish you the best of luck."

The image faded, the sky cleared up, and then everything was back to normal. Thor stared blankly at the space were the man—Thanatos—was once projected. Beside him, Loki was already looking through his menu, heading straight for the forums. He watched his brother read over them for some time as new posts were made, afraid to know if they had confirmed the man's brief speech.

When Thor brought up his own menu, he noticed a new section to it just above where he could access the forums. It was titled _Rankings_, and he clicked on it, hoping for some amount of clarification.

It was what he thought it would be: A top twenty of the highest leveled players, those with the most infamy, charity, and player kills. Normal though it seemed, one section made his heart drop—a list of those who had already died. Not only did it say who had died, but it also mentioned _how_ they died. Many had their cause of death listed as "outside interference", which Thor suspected was someone from the real world attempting to remove their headset.

He suddenly found himself deeply thankful that Loki had thought to inform their mother of the potential dangers of the sets. Frigga would do her best to stop her family from removing their headsets, but how long would that last before even she began to worry?

"The deaths of the beta testers will be reported to them," Loki assured as Thor voiced his worries. "The world will quickly find out that the headsets being removed is killing the beta testers. Mother will prevent us from getting our brains fried long enough for word to get out about the true danger of this game. I trust her with my life."

"I know you do, brother. I only wish I had the same confidence as you. How do we know the beta testers' deaths are not being hidden from the public?"

"How could they _possibly_ hide this, Thor?" Loki asked, glancing at him from over his forum menu for just a moment. "People will be dying in their own homes. The public will find out about all of this soon enough, and someone will find a way to put an end to this madness. All they need do is locate Thanatos in the real world and take him out. The programmers can fix his mess shortly afterwards."

"And if they don't?"

"If we manage to survive long enough for people to realize they shouldn't be removing our headsets, then we will essentially be in comas. We'll need to be taken to the hospital and watched over so that we don't die from _that_."

Thor brought a hand to his head. What a disaster this had become.

The hours went by, and Thor and Loki found themselves back in Norms Town. They were in the process of purchasing more equipment and items (Loki had helpfully supplied that the reason Thor's hammer had cost so much was due to it being enchanted. It raised his strength by an extra ten points, which he had not immediately realized before). With a new set of armor and items, Thor felt much more comfortable with himself, though it did little to ease his anxiety.

A game over meant death. The removal of their headsets by their family meant death. They could die at any moment, and still Loki was calmly discussing game mechanics with Thor and explaining everything to him. It was almost maddening.

Thanatos' information had been vague. They had no idea what it was they were supposed to do besides survive, and the game itself was proving to be a wide-open area to explore, rather than linear. They had found a portal that lead to Alfheim earlier, finding out then that they were currently on Midgard. Opting out of entering the portal for fear of being under-leveled there, they chose to continue their adventures in Midgard.

With new equipment in Norms Town came new quests. Thor had a habit of talking to any and all NPCs they came across, which the anti-social Loki tended to avoid doing, and already he was finding beginner level quests right and left to do.

He was accepting a quest to take on the beast of the Flame Cavern when he heard it: A faint buzzing sound, which Thor kept looking around to see if anyone else noticed. It didn't appear that other players could hear it, but Thor figured out what it was immediately when he saw Loki's shoulders stiffen from across the street. If only he and his brother could hear it, and the sound itself brought such noticeable fear to his otherwise impassive brother, then it could only be one thing:

Loki had set that damn alarm again after Thor had tried to keep it off. Their alarm was ringing in real life, and there was nothing they could do to wake up and turn it off. It was morning in the real world, and eventually the rest of their family would awaken and realize something was wrong. Someone might try to remove their headsets, and while Thor trusted his mother, he wasn't sure he could say the same of the others. There was the distinct possibility that they and many other players might begin dying soon, if warning of the players' danger was not already out.

The sight of Loki walking towards him, his movements stiff and stilted, brought him out of his thoughts. As much as Loki tried not to show it, Thor knew now that his little brother was just as terrified of their situation as he was.

Somehow, the buzzing of the alarm faded away. Thor vaguely wondered if someone turned it off, or if the game was meant to block out real world sounds like that.

Once he reached Thor, Loki stopped just before him, not meeting his eyes.

"I was looking at the forums again," he murmured. Thor hoped this was going somewhere good. "It's about the inns and tents. I guess people are saying that we need sleep in the virtual world the same as we do in the real world, in order to allow our brains to rest."

Thor took this latest information in, and it made sense. He had been feeling just a bit groggy the past hour.

"If that was my alarm, then we have been at this for nine hours, and I suspect some rest is in order. I don't know about you, but I'll be purchasing an inn room for now."

"Right," Thor agreed. His voice was tentative. They both knew either one of them could die at any moment now. "We should get a room. It'll be cheaper if we share."

Loki folded his arms in front of him, though the action looked more like he was trying to hug himself. Despite this, Thor could hear his light chuckle. "Well, perhaps if we are lucky, we might even wake up to continue our journey afterwards," Loki murmured.

"I'm beginning to suspect that you just want to die in your sleep, rather than experience it while awake."

"Yes, I'll admit that has something to do with it," Loki replied, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards for just a moment. Now that that alarm had gone off, his brother was not nearly as composed as he had been for the past nine hours.

Putting an arm around Loki's shoulders, Thor started guiding him over towards the inn's entrance. Now that his little brother had clammed up so suddenly, it was Thor's job to be the brave older brother. He himself was terrified, but he wanted at least one of them to act like they were composed. It had been Loki's turn earlier, and it was only fair that it now be Thor's time.

They purchased a room, each putting in 50 gold to pay for the 100-gold room. They made it to the room, Thor shutting the door behind them. There was no lock, as everyone knew by now that only party members could enter inn rooms and tents. Loki had found more than enough forums of people attempting such a thing. For what reason they tried this, Thor did not want to know, but he felt safer with the assurance that it wasn't possible for strangers to break in.

Together they laid in the double bed provided for them, their backs to each other. Thor was too afraid to fall asleep, and he could feel Loki's constant shifting behind him. He wondered just how long it would take for either of them to fall asleep with their situation.

So many thoughts kept racing through his head. He had promised to take Jane out on a date that Sunday evening. They were going to go watch the play that Hödr had been practicing in for so long. It was the opening night, and he wanted to support his brother's career choice. The overall scientific nature of the play sounded like it would have been right up Jane's alley as well. None of that would be happening now.

If he survived that day, and if no solution could be found to free their minds from the game, then Thor would be missing out on so many more things he had been looking forwards to. Odin had been training Thor on the political side of his job as mayor. Thor had not gotten a degree in politics for the hell of it. Monday would have been the first day he would have been allowed to head into the office for his internship.

That Wednesday, Baldur would be presenting in a gallery for his newest paintings. He and Hödr had gone to a community college for the arts; Hödr for acting and music, Baldur for art and art history. They had both graduated with honors, and Thor had been so proud of them. He wanted to be at the play on Sunday for Hödr with Jane. He wanted to go to the first day of his internship with Odin's council. He wanted to go to Baldur's presentation that Wednesday. There were so many things he wanted to do, and it seemed as though none of that would be possible.

Loki was a bit of a recluse, and Thor knew that his brother did not have as many obligations as he himself did that week, but there were still some things. It was the last month of his freshman year in college, for instance. Loki had been studying nonstop for his finals the past week, even though they seemed so far from now. His nineteenth birthday would be the month after that. He did not have any immediate obligations like Thor did, but there were still things to look forward to.

Perhaps this would all be fixed in a month or two.

Thor couldn't say. He didn't know what was going on, or what to do. It was all out of his hands. If they survived the day, the week, the month, then sure, they could defeat Thanatos. That was all they could hope to do for themselves. Everything else was up to those in the real world with the actual power to stop this madness. All they could do was try to survive until then.

His thoughts and his worries raced through his head, yet somehow, he began to drift off. Somehow, he and his younger brother were able to find some amount of rest in their terror ridden world. They slept, and they could only hope they didn't die in the process.


	3. Men of Iron and War

Thor awoke in his bed, groggy and more than a little confused. The room didn't look familiar, and this definitely wasn't his bed, or even Loki's for that matter. He couldn't remember sleeping over at anyone's home, and even then, this looked nothing like any of their guest rooms. Where was he…?

It hit him, and Thor froze on the spot. He was in the game, Yggdrasil. They were supposed to have been beta testers, but it somehow turned into a deadly game of survival. He and Loki had gone to sleep in an inn to rest, and now here he was. There was no way to tell the time, or at least any way that was coming to him in his panic. How long had he been asleep? Did him being alive now mean that there was little chance of his family removing his headset? Did they know? Had word gotten out?

Taking a deep breath, Thor closed his eyes and attempted to calm himself. His thoughts were running away from him. He was alive now, but that wasn't all that mattered. What _did_ matter was the fact that no one was in bed with him once he turned around.

Did someone take Loki's headset off? Was he gone? Did he—

"Thor, you're going to hyperventilate if you keep breathing like that over there."

The voice was deadpan, nearly bored sounding, and it did wonders to soothe Thor's panic. He had been so tunnel-visioned by the empty bed that looking up and around the room hadn't even occurred to him. On the other side of the room stood Loki, watching something outside the window with a bored air about him.

"How long have you been awake—" Thor stopped a moment to make sure Loki hadn't shapeshifted his gender, "—brother?" Taking his eyes off Loki, Thor sat up in bed to better examine their room.

"A little less than an hour. I slept longer than I usually do, as annoying as it is," Loki muttered in response. What little panic he had shown before their rest appeared all but gone, though Thor suspected Loki had simply had enough time to reign his emotions back under control. He himself felt more comfortable knowing they had survived for however long they had been asleep.

Loki brought up a small menu and took note of it, brushing it aside after he was done.

"Looking at the in-game clock, we've been asleep for nearly ten hours."

_Ten hours?_ Thor couldn't even imagine what kind of panic their family had to be going through right now. Ten hours was more than enough time for someone to figure out that the oldest and youngest Odinsons had not awoken from the game yet.

"Do you think they know yet about the deaths this game has caused?" Thor spoke, not daring to raise his voice above a whisper.

There was a short glance in his direction from Loki, who seemed far more interested in what was going on outside.

"I imagine there's been widespread panic over the issue," Loki replied. "Thanatos said over twenty people have already died, and that was nearly fifteen hours ago. That many deaths from the game can't possibly go on without being reported. Someone out there needs to warn the public and start investigating what's causing this."

"I can only hope they hurry," Thor murmured, finally getting out of bed. He needed to see what was going on outside, his curiosity was far outweighing his anxiety over their possibly imminent deaths. "The sooner they act, the less people will fall to this infernal game."

His new height over his brother allowed him to easily see over Loki's shoulder, and Thor supposed he wasn't surprised by his distraction anymore. There was some sort of battle going on down there, a small group of people arguing with each other and causing fights.

**_Optimal Tide_ **_(lv. 4) has been killed by **Burner** (lv. 6)_

The sudden message on the bottom left of Thor's vision startled him, and he stared at it hard before the message faded away.

"That's the second person they've killed in less than an hour. I do hope they understand that they are, in fact, killing real-life human beings," Loki muttered. "They do seem a bit brutish, though. Probably as dumb as a bag of bricks."

"Wait, is that what this is about? Has that man been out there mindlessly killing other players?" Thor blurted out without meaning to. The thought of someone actively murdering people horrified him.

"No," Loki began, but made himself pause to think it over. "I don't think so. It seems more like two different parties got into an argument. That Burner person has been instigating more than enough fights since I woke up. I'm guessing the other party tried to convince him to calm down. Too bad they're down two people now."

Thor shoved Loki aside harshly, taking up the whole window so that he could get a better view of the two parties.

"Is that _really_ necessary?" he heard Loki say, annoyance clear as day. Thor chose to ignore him in favor of the scene outside.

"We should go down there and help! They shouldn't be murdering each other like that! Someone needs to stop them!"

"If those people down there can't defeat him, then I doubt we will have that much more luck. A level 5 mystic knight and illusionist against a level 6 berserker? We may as well forfeit right away."

Thor gave Loki an annoyed look of his own, but made his decision. Stomping away from the window, Thor left their room and began storming downstairs, his hammer at the ready. There was no way to tell if Loki was following him, but he could remain in their room and watch for all Thor cared. He would take care of this murderer himself if he had to.

The light from outside blinded Thor only momentarily, and as his eyes adjusted he saw the two parties. The group with the berserker stood far from their wayward party member, and Thor couldn't tell if they agreed with the man's actions or not. The last member of the party the berserker was attacking was standing nervously in front of him. Thor had no idea what their class or race were, and he didn't particularly care. The berserker was something Thor _knew_ he could deal with. He could thank Loki in particular for this victory later.

Stomping up to the two people, Thor shoved the victim aside and brandished his hammer in front of the berserker. The berserker—Burner—narrowed his red eyes, and his blue skin flushed a dark shade of purple in anger. Ironic that he named himself Burner and chose Jötun as his race.

No words were said, as the berserker ran forward with his axe to attack the other person's savior. His speed stat as a berserker must have been low, as Thor found himself dodging easily. In only a few seconds, his hammer was imbued with the power of fire, and a single whack to the frost giant's back elicited a horrible scream from him. Thor thought that maybe the one hit would be enough to dissuade the man from continuing his attack, but his berserker rage only furthered, and he turned to attack God of Thunder in a move Thor had not been expecting.

A blurred image of Thor took the hit before fizzling out, throwing the berserker off and leaving Thor damage-free. The berserker's confusion gave Thor the opening he needed, and he bashed Burner over the head with his flaming hammer. Still, the man kept trying to get up. He kept trying to _fight_, and as the hits kept coming and the fight kept going, Thor found himself striking the man one last time.

Burner's body fell dead to the floor, and as it de-spawned completely, Thor saw the messages in his view:

**_Burner_**_ (lv. 6) has been killed by **God of Thunder** (lv. 5) and **God of Mischief** (lv. 5)_

_204 exp. gained, 526 gold gained, +10 infamy, +1 player kill_

_Bounty completed! +200 gold gained from **Burner** bounty_

_Level 6 gained! New skill learned: Imbue Weapon – [Lightning]_

Thor felt sick. Completely and utterly sick. He stared in horror at the ground where Burner's body had fallen. Yes, the man had murdered two people, but Thor hadn't wanted to kill him! He just kept fighting! Burner wouldn't stop trying to kill him, and Loki… Thor whipped around to stare at his brother.

"Calm! Loki, why didn't you cast Calm?!"

"Brother, you know I can't—!"

"You were so determined to protect me with your illusions, when you should have cast Calm on that man!"

"Calm doesn't work that way and you know it!" Loki yelled over him, nearly screaming. "It doesn't work on enemies higher levelled than me! We found that out yesterday, so don't you go blaming this on me! It's because of me you didn't take any of those hits! It could have been_ you_ that died!"

Loki was right, and Thor knew it. They had found out through experimenting the other day that Calm only worked when the enemies they fought were of equal level or lower than them. It made fighting weaker enemies less of a hassle, but was next to useless when level-grinding against anything even a single level higher than them. Thankfully, the next spell Loki had learned was Blink, which created a mirror image of one of them to take a hit for them. That was the reason why none of the berserker's hits had succeeded in touching Thor, and was also the reason why the game had considered not just Thor, but Loki as well, to be Burner's killer.

The two brothers' spat and the commotion of Thor's successful kill (_murder_) of Burner brought the surrounding area to complete silence. The person Thor had rescued was nowhere in sight, and neither were the three members of Burner's party. Thor didn't blame them, and didn't want to be in Norms Town for any longer than he had to.

Grabbing Loki's arm, Thor began dragging him beside him out of town. They needed to get out of there and on a quest.

"What do you know about bounties?" Thor asked Loki after they completed yet another battle in the field.

Loki gave him a long, hard look, debating if he even wanted to give Thor the answer. If the oaf had just read the damn manual, but no. Reading was far beneath his majesty. It was a wonder he managed to get a degree in political science, but Loki chose to keep his mouth shut about that.

"Bounties are put on someone if they kill another player. It goes up by 100 gold for each person. If someone manages to kill _them_, then instead of having a bounty put on the collector, they just get the gold for the person's bounty that they killed."

"So that is where that extra 200 gold came from, then?" Thor continued his questioning. Really, the answer to such a question should have been obvious, but Loki knew it was better to answer his brother's questions now, rather than harass him over them.

"Yes. It's also the reason we ourselves don't have a bounty now. We merely collected on his."

"And what of this infamy score?"

"That will continue to go up whenever you kill a player, regardless of if they have a bounty or not. I believe it affects your experience gain. The more infamy you have, the less experience you gain after battles. This can be counteracted by your charity score, which generally raises the amount of experience you gain. Seeing as we haven't done much to warrant a charity score, we'll just have to live with slightly less experience for now."

"How do we gain charity, then?" Thor continued on, de-spawning his hammer and brining up the map of Midgard he had purchased back in town.

"We give equipment away, participate in auctions, aid people with their jobs, the like. That's something we can work on later if the infamy score is going to bother you so much. It's low enough that it shouldn't noticeably affect us for now."

"No, I'm not too worried about it," Thor replied, the nervous hitch in his voice telling Loki he was definitely worried about it. The fact that he had killed a man was obviously not sitting well with him. "Ah ha! Here!" Thor cried, point at the map in earnest. Loki took a step forward to check it out. "The Flame Cavern is nearby! We should reach it within an hour's time."

"And by then an entire day will have already gone by," Loki deadpanned. "You're lucky I had us buy some tents, otherwise we would be left helpless out by a quest site."

"I can always trust you to come prepared, brother!" Thor agreed, slapping him on the back.

Their discussion ended there, and they pushed their way onwards towards the Flame Cavern. Levels were already coming by slower, the experience needed for each raising high enough that the low leveled monsters in the area were not cutting it. Loki was hoping the fire cavern provided them with a better challenge, though he was dreading the fact that, as a Jötun, he would be weak to every single enemy there. He knew he would be relying heavily on Thor to get them through this quest.

The next morning, Loki awoke to the sounds of two people outside of his and Thor's tent. They had reached the area just outside of the Flame Cavern before calling it a night and setting up a tent to rest. It made more sense money-wise to share a tent, and so that was what they did. Thor's arm had ended up across Loki's head at some point in the night, and he shoved it off so he could sit up.

Not a trace of drowsiness remained in him, the voices outside the tent putting him on high alert. He didn't know if the two people were camping outside their tent in order to kill them, and damn if Loki was going to die right now. If he and Thor had made it two days without someone from their family unintentionally killing them, then there was no way in hell he was going to allow two random player killers to get him.

Preparing a Blink spell, Loki pushed aside the tent flaps and looked outside. Directly in front of his and Thor's tent stood another tent, a man of the engineer subclass calmly sitting in front of it with a menu before him. At the sight of Loki, the man's grin widened, and he selected something from the menu. Loki got the notification shortly afterwards:

**_Iron Man _**_sent a party request_

Loki declined the request and shut the tent flaps. He then crawled under his blanket and went back to sleep. It was too damn early to be dealing with this nonsense.

Unfortunately, Loki was not one of those people who could drift back off to sleep after waking up, and he laid there listening to his brother's snores for quite some time. It was quiet outside the tent, quiet enough for Loki to know that the man out there had not de-spawned his tent and left, yet. There had been another out there with him, Loki had heard him but not seen. Thankfully, the two did not appear entirely threatening. Iron Man had sent a party request after all, and you couldn't harm a party member. Why did they want to join them, though?

A quick snort from Thor momentarily knocked Loki out of his musings, but the oaf continued on with his sleep. There had been times in the past when Thor had nearly slept the entire day away, and it had taken the combined efforts of both Loki and Vidar to awaken him. That was how deeply his eldest brother would sleep at times, and Loki was currently debating the pros and cons of waking him and informing him of the engineer sitting directly in front of their tent.

Would the engineer have a weakness? Loki didn't think he wanted a fight, but it was better to be prepared for such a thing. He knew that Thor could use both fire and ice magic on his weapons now, but maybe having reached level 6 taught him a new spell. Lightning would be particularly useful against machines.

The two of them had learned skills at the same rate so far, Loki learning Blink the same time Thor learned Ice at level 3. After reaching level 6, Loki had learned the spell Detect, which at first glance looked like a spell to scan for enemy information, but he had been wrong. Detect was for detecting lies. Not the most useful thing to have in battle, and Loki was seriously beginning to regret his subclass choice as time went on. It had been nice to learn Blink so that he could give needed support to Thor in battle, but what possible use could detecting lies ever have in a fight?

There was a prominent frown stuck on Loki's face as his brother rolled over and slammed an arm on his face yet again, making Loki physically flinch. He was lucky party members couldn't harm each other's HP, because Thor's arms were like rocks now and that had fucking _hurt_.

"Okay, it's time to wake up now! Get off me!" he yelled, shoving Thor's arm aside again.

His brother snorted himself awake this time (thank god), and Loki was certain the engineer out there had to be regretting his decision to send a party request earlier.

Thor sat up and gazed around in mild confusion, eyes soon settling on the notification in his vision. Clicking on it without saying a word, he stared at it as though it was personally offending him. His brother was strange in the morning, Loki would never deny that.

"Iron Man would like to join our party," Thor muttered. "Who the _hell_ is Iron Man?"

"That would be the engineer sitting directly outside of our tent. You can go take a look if you'd like. I know for a fact he's still out there," Loki responded, glaring at the closed tent flaps.

"Yeah!" came a voice from outside the tent. "Come out here and eat some breakfast with us! You won't be disappointed!"

"There's breakfast in this game?" Thor mumbled to himself, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Still, he crawled out of the tent, brandishing his hammer as he did so. Loki remained where he was yet another moment, already feeling a headache coming on. This morning needed to end already.

Party requests had not been accepted yet, Loki demanding he and Thor knew what they were getting into beforehand. As it turned out, the engineer named Iron Man was in a party with a cannoneer named War Machine, and they had been looking to expand.

"We saw what you two did back in Norms Town. Not only did you take out some mad player killer, but you then decided to head out and do a quest anyways. We've been finding that not many people have been so keen on the idea of going out and putting themselves in danger anymore," explained Iron Man.

Next to him sat his other party member War Machine, who was currently cooking food up for them. Apparently, chef was a job one could take up, and eating was an actual thing you could do in the game, even if it wasn't necessary.

"Most people have been hiding in town and taking on jobs instead of heading out into fights," War Machine continued for Iron Man. "But we figured, if we're not dead already, then what's the point in waiting around and not doing anything?"

"If it's a fight Thanatos wants, then it's a fight he'll get. Besides, the stronger we get, the less likely we'll be to get ourselves killed, am I right?"

Iron Man was so lax compared to War Machine about the whole ordeal, but Loki was finding that he didn't mind so much. Normally an attitude like his would annoy him, but Iron Man did appear to be oddly knowledgeable about the game's mechanics so far, and it was a breath of fresh air compared to Thor's ignorance.

"I'm Iron Man, by the way, as I'm sure you've already noticed. And this here's my good pal War Machine," Iron Man greeted, putting a hand to War Machine's shoulder as he did so. His partner continued cooking breakfast over the fire as though nothing happened.

"I am Thor!"

"He's God of Thunder," Loki corrected immediately.

"God of Thunder. Thor. Same thing," Iron Man took it in stride. "You two big Norse mythology fans or something?"

"You can blame that on his father," Loki muttered, pointing a thumb in Thor's direction.

"_Our_ father."

"My adoptive father."

"Alright, family issues, I get it," Iron Man stopped them there, complete nonchalance in his stance. "So, how'd an Aesir get a Jötun as his brother? Oh, excuse me. Not-Jötun."

Loki froze for a moment, but let himself relax. It was no big deal if someone saw through his shapeshifting, but he was curious to know _how_.

"Examine I. Passive ability of the engie. I can see your race, class, and HP, so don't give me that look," Iron Man supplied, looking smug about his reveal.

The light of Detect turned green in Loki's hand, and he sighed. The man was telling the truth, which meant that there was no way for Loki himself to get such a skill. He had been so desperately hoping that it had been a lie, as he didn't like being kept in the dark about his enemies' information.

They talked more at length about various things, Thor eagerly befriending the two as Loki tried to remain passive beside him. It was hard, considering he was too interested in the knowledge that Iron Man had about the game to keep quiet. By the time they had finished their food, Iron Man and God of Mischief had already found themselves in a deep discussion about the more complex features of the game, and he could see Thor ignoring them out of the corner of his eye.

"So, let's get something straight," War Machine began. "If the four of us party up, it'll be to find those infinity stones and to defeat Thanatos, right?"

"That's the idea, is it not?" Thor responded, grin clear on his face.

"And how do we know we can trust you two to hold to your word?" War Machine continued, skeptical.

"We sought them out ourselves, now didn't we, Warhead?" Iron Man snarked from beside him.

"Yes, but one of them _is_ named God of Mischief, after all."

That caused Thor to bark out one of his typical laughs. "It is part of the Norse mythology theme. Did we not already explain this?"

"I think you'll find that I'm the most trustworthy person of this group," said the female dark elf now sitting next to Thor.

War Machine narrowed his eyes at her, and Loki could not hold back a grin. It helped seeing Iron Man react in a similar manner. She suspected that she and the engineer were going to get along a lot better than she initially thought.

"Sister, if you think Jötun looks too unappealing to run around as, then I suggest you rethink your current decision," Thor suggested, scrunching up his nose at the sight of his youngest sibling.

"No, really, Point Break, I think you should let him stay that way. It suits him," Iron Man responded, that smug grin back on his face.

"What about this?" Loki asked, now in the form of a flame troll.

"Worse," War Machine spoke bluntly, and Iron Man and Thor let out similar barks of laughter.

Against every subconscious thought in Loki's anti-social head, she couldn't help the feeling that she actually _liked_ these two, or at least Iron Man. She could tell that Thor was already smitten, as the worries of the previous two days seemed to be the furthest things from his mind at the moment. Perhaps these two were what they truly needed, as much as Loki did not want to admit so.

The four finished up their breakfast meeting, and party requests were sent back out and accepted. Looking at her party menu showed that there were two more names she had access to, and Loki wasted no time in learning about her new party members.

**Iron Man**, Human, lv. 5 Engineer, [Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist]

Subclass passive ability: Examine I, Race passive ability: Weapon Proficiency

Skills: Construct - [Drone, Turret]

**War Machine**, Human, lv. 6 Cannoneer, [no title]

Subclass passive ability: Crowd Control I, Race passive ability: Weapon Proficiency

Skills: Open Fire, Combine

"Where and why did you get that title," was all Loki said in response, giving a disbelieving side-eye at Iron Man.

"Well, you'll know when you're a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist like I am," Iron Man shrugged. "Titles are hard to come by, so you should feel honored that you have me in your party to show it off."

"What do titles do?" was the expected question from Thor, and Iron Man responded. He told him of how they were rarely awarded for when something extraordinary happened with a player, and usually provided the player with added benefits. It felt odd not being the one to explain something to Thor, but Loki still appreciated that she was no longer the only one with any idea of what was going on in the game. There were times Iron Man provided information not even Loki knew beforehand, and she was eager to get back into their discussions of the game's programming and complexities.

So occupied by their new party and findings, it took Loki a moment to realize that War Machine had pointed something out to her.

"Excuse me?" Loki asked, brushing away her menu.

"I said, you kind of forgot the boobs," War Machine repeated, pointing none too subtly at Loki's chest. After her earlier shenanigans, Loki had opted to remain shapeshifted as a human, finding it to be the most appealing form of what she had cycled through. Not once had she ever changed the female sex she had taken on after her first shift.

She hadn't discussed it much with Thor since they first entered the game, her genderfluidity having been the norm between them for a while now, but she was thrilled for more reasons about her shapeshifting than just not looking like a frost giant. If she happened to forget that her new party members might be confused by this revelation, it wasn't that big a deal. She'd long ago given up at trying to talk reason into people who thought her genderfluidity was weird.

"No, I'm very aware the boobs are still there," was all she said in reply. She could hear Iron Man give a quick snort of amusement at War Machine's confused look, but that was the end of the conversation. They had reached the entrance to the Flame Cavern, and it was time to begin their quest.

"So, whose job will it be to watch over Snow White here?" Iron Man asked casually as they stood before the cavern.

Loki could see the flickering and illumination of the fire within the cavern, and already she could feel herself sweating from the increased heat. She was annoyed at the prospect that someone might need to _watch over her_, but she knew from the beginning that she was going to need to rely on Thor for this quest. Shapeshifted though she was, the benefit of her Jötun passive ability was still apparent, as was its downside. It was unfair that so far no one had any downsides to their passive abilities besides her, and not for the last time she found herself annoyed that she made the choices she did. Screw Thor and his Norse mythology theme.

"My sister can watch over herself just fine. She has handled herself perfectly up until this point," Thor replied, sending a grin Loki's way.

"Look, I know he's got himself some boobs now, but he's obviously still your brother," Iron Man joked, though Thor gave him a cold expression.

"No."

It was Loki's turn to grin as Iron Man put his hands up in a universal sign of no harm. She saw War Machine elbow his friend in the side, though Iron Man just rolled his eyes.

"Okay, sorry. Won't joke about it again," the engineer relented. "My point was though, that your, uh, sister's weak against fire, and I doubt you've been fighting fire-type enemies this whole time. Not to mention the illusionist subclass has the lowest HP stat in the game, and the second lowest defense stat. The only class with lower defense is geomancer."

Immediately, Loki felt her breath hitch in her throat. Yes, she already knew about her overly weak HP and defense stats, but _Thor _certainly didn't. She could physically feel Thor's eyes boring into the side of her head. The man was inching himself closer, as though to protect Loki from some unseen enemy, and this was already absolutely _ridiculous_.

"I'm not going to just drop dead, you know!" Loki burst out, shoving Thor away from her. Her brother gave her a sheepish look, but looked no less worried.

"Why didn't you tell me you were so weak?" Thor demanded, much to Loki's embarrassment.

"As much as I would like to deny that claim, you've seen my class in action more than enough times. Did it ever once look like it's made to withstand battle? It's a support class!"

That brought Thor pause, but he didn't relent. Even as the four made the decision to enter the Flame Cavern, Loki found herself being shoved between her brother and War Machine, Iron Man walking beside her with one of his typical shrugs.

"Older brothers, what can I say? I never had one, but I've heard they're a hassle."

"Just try growing up with four of them," Loki muttered, glaring holes into Thor's back. This was going to be a long, _long_ journey. She could already tell.


	4. Fire Hazards

Tony Stark hadn't been too sure about the two "gods" when Rhodey first pointed them out in Norms Town, but they had certainly grown on him. They were…unusual compared to the average person, almost as though they were trapped in the Norse god theme they were role-playing. God of Thunder especially fit in the role of Thor, though his little brother (sister, now?) wasn't too far behind him in the role of Loki. Apparently, it was their father who was so interested in the subject, and Tony couldn't help but wonder just what kind of lives those two were living with their family. Mischief didn't seem all too fond of his—_her_, damn it—father on the few occasions the man was brought up, but Thunder was always quick to talk over her during those times. Daddy issues were something Tony could relate to, and to some extent he felt a sort of kindred spirit in God of Mischief, as anti-social as the kid was.

Now that the four had actually partnered up, Tony could say his opinion of the two had brightened considerably. It was Rhodey who remained nervous, especially in the presence of Mischief. That was simply how his old buddy was though, and Tony knew he would warm up to them as well once they proved themselves trustworthy. It was all of that Marine Corps training that made Rhodey so cautious, and his time working for Stark Industries hadn't done much to dim the years he had spent as a lieutenant beforehand.

As it stood, Rhodey was currently ahead in the cave with God of Thunder, while Tony and Mischief sat a little way back to support them. Tony loved being able to construct his drones and just sit and watch them take action. He didn't need to get right in the midst of the battle like Rhodey and Thunder did, meaning less chances of him accidentally getting his ass killed.

Tony gave a quick glance at Mischief beside him. The kid's spells reached shockingly far for a mage, and Tony was having a difficult time remembering if illusionists were programmed to have the longest reaching spells or not. It made sense, considering how low their HP and defense were, but the information just wasn't coming to him. Either way, the enemies in the cavern were all a few levels above the entire group, so the only way Mischief's magic could really help was with Blink. Not that that wasn't helpful, of course. Tony had been thrilled to find out Rhodey could now take some hits without receiving the damage from them. They would eventually need to find a way to deal with the high magic cost and slow casting speed of the spell later, but it would do until then.

At one point, some enemies had spawned behind the group and tried to attack them while Rhodey and Thunder had been distracted, but as problematic as being a Jötun in the Flame Cavern was, it also had its benefits. Ice was weak against fire, sure, but they were opposing elements, and fire was just as weak against ice. Mischief's Freeze passive ability gave her knives ice elemental damage, which helped considerably in their close-range fighting.

That wasn't to say Tony couldn't have handled the enemies himself. His hammer and attack stat weren't that bad, especially compared to an _illusionist_, but hey, every little bit helped. Thunder hadn't been kidding when he said his sister could take care of herself, and it made Tony's job as bodyguard seem a lot less like babysitting than he thought it would.

Their quest was going well enough, even if Rhodey kept complaining about how they should look for a healer to add to their team. During those times, Tony would scoff and remind him about how he would eventually be able to construct a healing drone, that he need just be patient, but Rhodey never looked comforted by this. Mischief would give him an inquisitive look over the issue, and it only made Tony like her even more. The kid had to have figured out by now that Tony knew more about the game than he was letting on, but let her wonder for longer. If she and Thunder knew they were in a party with Tony Stark, then there _might _be more trust issues between them than he would like.

He didn't know about Thunder, but Mischief was a smart kid, and would be able to put two and two together. Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Industries, had worked on this game. There was a reason he knew as much as he did about it, and why he had such benefits as a title and insane amounts of gold ("Why do you have over _500,000_ gold?" Mischief had asked him in an accusing tone not too long ago).

The thing was, Tony had no idea who this Thanatos prick was. With all of the work and co-op he'd done with Marvel Industries, there wasn't a single person he could think of who might have caused all of this. Something like this shouldn't have gotten past him, not with all of the time and effort he had put into perfecting the game and its systems. If anyone besides Rhodey knew who Iron Man was, then they would blame him for this, he just knew it. They would threaten him to fix the game, maybe even kill him in their anger. He wanted to be free of this madness as much as they did, but he doubted they would listen to him once they knew the CEO of Stark Industries was before them.

Tony was personally invested in this, more so than anyone else. Someone had hacked his game; had changed its parameters and the way the headsets themselves even worked. Not just anyone could get past Tony's work like that, and he wanted to know who the hell this person was _now_. The gods of mischief and thunder were reliable, competent players, but Tony knew he would need a bigger party to deal with this Thanatos guy. If he had as much control as Tony thought he did over the game, then they would need as much manpower as they could get.

Until then, they were on a quest through the Flame Cavern. It wouldn't take that many more quests until Tony felt the party would be safe to move on elsewhere. If the difficulty balance of the game hadn't been changed, then Tony felt confident in guiding the group in the right direction. Now, if only he knew what these infinity stones were and where to find them. They hadn't been in the initial programming of the game, and could only be something Thanatos himself added.

A loud scream brought him out of his thoughts, and he realized that he had let himself and Mischief get ambushed by a fire elemental, which wasted no time in attacking the illusionist beside him. Tony whipped around to whack the monster with his hammer, but couldn't do more before God of Thunder himself shoved him aside and beat the enemy to death within seconds. Note to self: Never piss off big brother Thunder.

With the battle over and the enemy rush finally done with, Tony found himself sitting back by Rhodey, unwilling to go near the still enraged God of Thunder.

"I'm fine! Now back off, you oaf!" Mischief complained, being all but smothered by her worried brother.

Thunder backed off, but looked none too happy about it.

"I was taken by surprise, and my MP was too low for me to cast Blink again. It's nothing some potions can't fix," Mischief continued, already taking out two potions to use.

"You shouldn't even be here, sister! This place is too dangerous. Look what that single hit did to your health! Two more of those and you'd be dead. The rest of us can take far more hits than that from the enemies here."

"That's why I hang away from the fights. I merely need to watch my back more often and keep an eye on my magic reserves. And maybe get some better spells," Mischief muttered as an after-thought, making Tony chuckle against his better judgement.

Rhodey, ever the brave man, stepped forward and offered up his only ether to Mischief. The item had been dropped by an enemy early on in their quest through the cavern. Tony only hoped that a single ether would keep Mischief's magic going through the rest of the cave. They were near the end, but he couldn't anticipate what kind of fire power it would take for them to defeat the boss there.

"Is that all we have?" Thunder questioned, looking between both his sister and Tony.

"I never thought to buy any," Tony admitted. He had more than enough gold to do so. "My drones cost a lot of MP, but I don't need to construct them as often as Frost Queen here needs to cast Blink."

"I didn't have enough money to buy any in town. They're too expensive," Mischief continued, pointedly looking away from Thunder in annoyance. Thunder gave her a helpless stare in response.

With God of Thunder's anger and worry sated (well, _mostly_. Tony could see Thunder's worried gaze repeatedly turning to Mischief), the group continued onwards. The enemies from that point on were not nearly as numerous, and the group fell back into their earlier patterns. Tony noticed Mischief holding back on casting her magic, likely in order to reserve it for the boss at the end. He also noticed that at some point Mischief had shapeshifted back into a flame troll, which made him chuckle in good humor.

"Does being a fake flame troll make you feel better about yourself?" Tony had asked, much to Mischief's chagrin.

Once the end of the cavern was reached, the boss appeared immediately, the horned Ifrit summoned from a vast roar of flames. Neither Rhodey nor Thunder flinched, Thunder already imbuing his hammer with the power of ice. Tony was preparing some turrets by himself and Mischief (boy, was watching a flame troll shy away from fire amusing), and Mischief began to cast Blink spells on the two more physical fighters up front.

Ifrit was a possible summon for those of the summoner subclass, and Tony knew it was the earliest one could get besides whatever happened to be their beginning summon. There was a good list of beginner summons, and which one a person started off with was completely random. Defeating Ifrit would give a player the power to summon it, but alas, no one in the party could accomplish such a task. Tony was hoping they would eventually come across a summoner, as not only did they have the potential to be one of the most powerful classes in the game, but he really just wanted to see all of the badass summon monsters in action. He was often a man of simple tastes, he would admit.

Thunder's ice hammer was wheedling Ifrit's HP down quickly, aided by Rhodey's combined ammo shots from the cannon he had spawned. Ifrit's claws had at one point managed to strike Rhodey, and the drop in HP had been considerable, but it had been taken care of in no time by some potions from Mischief. The kid had a never-ending supply of those things, and Tony was tempted to call her a potion hoarder just for the sake of it. Either way, it was immensely helpful.

The constant string of Blink spells prevented Ifrit's claws from ever striking again, but the AI for their enemy wasn't dumb. Tony himself had aided in the enemy AI programming, so he would hope so. After realizing that it couldn't strike its foes physically, Ifrit opted for shooting fire spells at them. As the group soon found out, Blink only protected against physical attacks. Mischief had yet to unlock the spell to protect against magic.

As Mischief's magic ran out once more, she was put on healing duty with her potions, hanging back behind Tony's steady stream of turrets. Tony could see how antsy she was getting over not being able to help out more, and more than once he caught her glancing down at one of the knives she held in her hands. There wasn't much to worry about; Tony knew Mischief was smart enough to not rush into battle against a fire type boss with the disadvantages she had.

"What if I threw the knife at it?" Mischief had asked in the heat of battle, preparing another potion to throw at Rhodey.

"Equipped items can't stray that far from your avatar before they de-spawn. You'd need the ninja sub-class's Throw ability to properly do that," Tony informed her, hurriedly constructing another drone to help intercept physical blows from Ifrit. His MP was running dangerously low too, but he could see how low Ifrit's health was. A few more blows from Rhodey's Open Fire ability and Thunder's ice hammer would finish it off. Tony didn't know what he'd do without his Examine passive ability. He could tell it drove Mischief nuts that she couldn't see enemy information like an engineer could.

Soon enough, Ifrit fell, de-spawning in a burst of flames. The congratulatory message was flashing across Tony's face, letting him know of his experience gain. It was the most substantial amount of exp. that he'd managed to get since starting the game, and finally he found himself relatively caught up to the other three in the party level-wise. All of them were now at level 8, Tony having just barely made it past level 7. He cursed his earlier decisions to sit out and let Rhodey take care of so many battles on his own. Thunder and Mischief had equal amounts of experience, and that's how it should have been with him and the cannoneer.

Well, that was something he'd just have to live with for now. Perhaps when everyone else was resting in their tents he would sneak out and catch up some, but until then, celebrations were in order.

"Alright!" he cheered as soon as the group found themselves out of the cavern.

Looking around, his party members were in varying states of disarray. Rhodey was using potions on himself while Thunder proceeded to fret over his flame troll sister. Mischief was doing her absolute best to ignore him, checking the forums as she so often did outside of battle. The kid was religious about making sure nothing else was going on in their world, and it had the added benefit of taking the responsibility away from Tony.

"How about we head back to Norms Town and get our reward for that quest, now?" Rhodey suggested once his HP was back at full health. "If we skip some fights and head straight there, we should make it by the end of the day."

"Were the items and gold we obtained from our battles not enough? There is more to receive at Norms Town?" Thunder questioned, hand tightening on Mischief's shoulder.

"Of course, big guy!" Tony agreed. "Every quest has a prize from whichever NPC issued it to you. You can't tell me you're satisfied with what you got from that cavern alone."

"It would be an honor to receive a reward for our bravery!" Thunder responded, appalled. Tony chuckled as Mischief audibly groaned at her brother. "Now, Loki—"

"God of Mischief."

"Same thing," Tony reminded, Mischief giving him a pointed look.

Thunder continued on as though he had never been interrupted, "—I understand if you feel, ah, more comfortable in this form," he gave the flame troll a disgusted look, not even trying to hide it, "but perhaps you would like to try something else out?"

"That's a little racist, don't you think, brother?" Mischief replied, even as her form changed to that of an Aesir.

The flame troll form had added a few inches to her height, making her nearly the same height as her brother, and that height remained the same as an Aesir. She looked similar enough to her human form now, the change only toning out her body and giving her some muscles. Thunder gave his sister a nervous look at this, tightening the grip on her shoulder even further. If Mischief had a problem with this, she certainly didn't show it.

"Well now that just looks wrong," Thunder muttered.

"You're just upset that I'm the same height as you again. I know how you always used to get around Vidar," Mischief commented. Tony figured Vidar must be one of their other brothers. If that was the case, he wondered if the Norse mythology thing was still just role-playing, or if their parents legitimately loved it so much as to name all their kids after Norse gods. With their slipups, Tony was beginning to suspect the latter.

As always, Thunder eventually relented under his sister's shenanigans, moving on when Rhodey voiced his impatience with them. If there was one thing Tony could always rely on Rhodey for, it was keeping people on track. He often found both Rhodey and Pepper ganging up on him whenever they found him screwing around in the lab or the bedroom, and as annoying as it sometimes was, they at least made him get shit done.

The group continued onwards, skipping fights at Rhodey's behest. Thunder did not appreciate having to run from most battles they came across, claiming it was cowardly, but Rhodey reminded him that they all wanted to reach Norms Town before the end of the day. Running was a necessary evil. None of this did anything to placate Thunder, who was becoming increasingly agitated with every battle they walked away from. More than once, Tony caught Mischief throwing a Calm spell on her brother when things began to get too heated, and he vaguely wondered when the older of the two would begin to catch on. He was hoping it wasn't until later that day, when they were at least in Norms Town and Tony could hide in an inn room from the man.

"You know, I've noticed something," Mischief began a couple hours later, MP having been restored from an ether that an enemy had dropped. Her brother was still under the effects of the last Calm spell, but Tony knew it would be wearing off soon. "Most of the parties I've seen so far appear to have at least two people who knew each other before the game started. I thought it was dumb luck that my brother and his friend managed to each be chosen as beta testers, but lately I've begun to think otherwise."

"That's because it wasn't dumb luck," Tony began. "Marvel tried to give the headsets to people in groups of two or three so that they would have someone to party up with right away."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Rhodey giving him a warning look. _Don't give away too much information that you shouldn't know_, it practically screamed.

"Interesting," Mischief replied, also having noticed Rhodey's look. She tried to play it off, but Tony saw the way that her eyes had drifted over to Rhodey for just the briefest of moments. "I suppose it makes sense, though. It's proven especially helpful now that we're all at risk of dying here, so I guess I should be grateful."

As she spoke, her body shapeshifted from Aesir back to human, though her sex remained as female as ever. It confused Tony ever so slightly, but he wasn't going to judge someone for their preferences. Thunder had been treating it as though it were the most normal thing in the world, but that didn't mean Tony still wasn't tempted to ask about it.

Thank god, the group finally returned to Norms Town. Thunder stormed off to find the NPC quest giver, and Tony grabbed Rhodey and Mischief each by the arm, dragging them off in the opposite direction. Predictably, Thunder figured out his sister's deception about an hour before they had reached the town, and he hadn't been particularly pleased by the development. Once he accepted the quest reward, it would automatically be sent to his other party members, so there was no need to hang around the angry wannabe Norse god for longer than necessary.

Mischief was complaining about wanting to head to the stores and buy new equipment and items, and Tony almost agreed to let her go, but of course Rhodey was there to keep them in line. Their energy was low, Tony could feel it in how groggy he was becoming. Out of the corner of his eye, he would catch glimpses of Mischief's shapeshifting failing her, the Jötun-blue of her skin appearing for mere moments before the form of a female human would return. As much as neither of them wanted to admit it, Rhodey was right.

Approaching the inn, Tony caught Mischief sending her brother a message, likely telling him about them buying a room. At the front desk, they studied the rates of different inn rooms, and together they decided on a room with two double beds. For four people, it was the cheapest option, as much as Tony didn't want to room with Thunder at the moment. At least he already knew that Mischief would be the one to get stuck sharing a bed with him.

As they reached their room and settled on their beds, the reward announcement popped up in front of their faces, and Tony couldn't help but grin. He had gained a new hammer, significantly stronger than his last one, and with the power of fire imbued on it. The sight of Rhodey's smirk beside him gave him more than enough information that he received a similar reward. The cannoneer's main weapon was, naturally, a cannon, and Tony was betting Rhodey received a powerful, fire elemental one. Glancing at the bed across the room, Mischief didn't look nearly as pleased.

"What, not what you were expecting?" Tony teased, even as Mischief tried to school the pout that had been on her face.

"Well, for one, I have no desire to use staves; I would have preferred to receive a new knife. And for another, how in any way does a frost giant wielding a flaming staff make _any_ amount of sense?"

Tony merely snickered as Rhodey gave the kid an annoyed look. It hadn't taken much time for either of them to find out that Mischief was a complainer, and Tony knew Rhodey wasn't the biggest fan of that kind of attitude. Tony just thought it was endearing, and reveled in giving the kid a hard time.

In no time at all, Thunder showed up at the inn room, dropping down onto the bed beside Mischief. As much as his anger had driven him before, Tony could now tell that the man was dead tired. It wouldn't take long at all for him to pass out, for which Tony was immensely grateful. Mischief was absently going through the forums again, a confused frown marring her face for bare seconds before it was schooled to a more neutral expression. Perhaps in the morning, granted if he remembered by then, Tony would ask about what was going on there, but right now Thunder appeared to have the best idea out of the group.

Sleep now, worry about religiously checking forum posts later. That quest took too much out of all of them, and he knew both his and Mischief's MP were running far too low. A quick check on Rhodey's MP confirmed the same for him, though Thunder's MP was in shockingly good shape. Whatever, that didn't matter. The four of them very quickly found themselves passed out in their beds, Tony with Rhodey, the Norse siblings with each other. They could worry more about the game's mishaps and craziness later.


	5. Forum Postings

Two days had passed since the party's journey through the Flame Cavern. Admittedly, Thor had let his temper escape him that day, and had done his best to reign it back in since then. Still, the situation they were all in stressed him out to no end, and he felt obligated to watch out for and keep his brother safe. Thor was the one who had gotten Loki into this mess, and as much as his brother complained about it, Thor would continue to keep a protective eye on him.

The Flame Cavern had been a mistake, one that shouldn't have happened. After learning of Loki's weakness to fire, Thor had vowed to watch out for any fire users to keep him safe. What did he do? Drag his Jötun brother straight to a cave made out of fire. How _stupid_ could he possibly be? Not once had Loki spoken up about the decision to go on such a quest, but Thor knew his brother was too clever to have overlooked the issues of a frost giant in a fire cave. The whole situation infuriated Thor, and War Machine's insistence on running from battles afterwards had been the thing to send his temper over the edge.

To his peers, Thor wondered if the sudden anger had come from nowhere, though he was sure Loki knew better. This anger, stress, and irritancy over their predicament had been brewing since Thanatos revealed how close to death they all were.

If the in-game clock was anything to go by, then it was currently Wednesday in the real world. There was no way to tell what time it was there, Thor had long lost track of that, but that did nothing to change the utter loss he felt from the revelation. His date with Jane, the opening night of Hödr's play, the first days of his internship, and now the opening day of Baldur's art exhibit. There was so much he was missing, and he knew his family had to be worried sick about the state of himself and his youngest brother.

Loki and Iron Man both agreed that by now, all of them would have had to be put on life support. They estimated a length of at least four days passing since they began the game, and if they weren't in hospitals being taken care of right now, then their families and friends were idiots. At Thor's protest of insulting said family and friends, Loki had amended his previous statement, reiterating that all of their family members minus Frigga were a bunch of idiots. Iron Man's none-too-subtle cough of "_momma's bo_y_!_" had only earned the man a mild glare of annoyance.

In the past two days, Thor had grown accustomed to the feel of Loki's Calm spell. As their situation continued on with no sign of ending (Iron Man and Loki were eager to inform him and War Machine that no, the forums had yet to provide them with any good news), Thor found his already low self-restraint and impulses becoming worse. At the time, he would be angry with his brother, but hindsight often showed Loki's desperate attempts at keeping his older brother from getting himself killed. That didn't stop him from sending irritated glances at Loki whenever he felt the urge to fight leave his body, the almost docile feeling stifling any outwards impulses.

The only saving grace from all of this was that they had met and become close friends with both Iron Man and War Machine. At first, War Machine had been reluctant to open up to either of the brothers, keeping a stoic face and aloof personality. As the two of them fought together on the front lines, protecting their two support members from direct harm, they grew into a form of trust only established by close comradery. War Machine had begun to open up to Thor, revealing a more outgoing personality that Thor had only seen when the darker skinned man conversed with Iron Man alone. Around Thor, War Machine had begun to show his more playful, competitive side. Thor was beginning to notice that War Machine and Iron Man could go for ages with their snark and teasing, rivaled only by Thor's own little brother.

Whenever Loki and Iron Man started going at it, not even War Machine would attempt to interfere. The casual ease with which the two could go back and forth in their sarcastic, deadpan humor was fascinating to watch sometimes, though it nearly always dissolved into more intellectual conversations instead. Iron Man had information on the game that most people had no idea about (War Machine helpfully supplied the other day that Iron Man was an engineer and programmer in real life, clearing up Thor's confusion), and Loki would eagerly take in anything and everything he had to say about the game's inner workings.

Thor couldn't quite understand how Iron Man had managed to break through Loki's anti-social barrier so easily, but it was nice seeing his brother so carefree around someone besides Thor. It wasn't often that Loki showed his more mischievous side without worry of discipline by Odin. Iron Man was the first person Thor had seen to bring that part of Loki more to the forefront. Sure, Loki would speak of the two friends he had miraculously made at the university, but Thor had never seen hide nor hair of Sigyn and Angrboda, and was fully convinced they didn't exist. The ease with which these two fell into their intellectual banter was a pleasant change, though Thor noted he'd still keep an eye on Iron Man. Protective older brother duties and all that.

Currently, the group was camped out on the edge of a forest, having explored a small temple Iron Man had located. The treasure they found there had been immensely helpful, Thor finding a new set of steel armor to wear, and Loki obtaining a new knife with a Drain MP enchantment on it. War Machine had noted how much gold they could fetch for that knife if they sold it at the auction house, which Loki had looked personally offended by. Thor suspected his brother would not be parting from that knife for some time.

Reclining, Thor took the party in, smiling contentedly to himself. Loki and Iron Man were huddled together on a boulder, Loki now shapeshifted as a male light elf, scouring the forums for anything interesting going on. Just yesterday, Thor had caught his brother reporting a complaint about the changes between sexes in clothing. After buying a new set of robes, their form had changed to almost look like a dress on his sister's at-the-time female body, and she had been none-too-happy about it ("I thought you liked wearing dresses, sister?" "Not when I want to look like a proper sorcerer and have acceptable attire!"). Leave it to Loki to still take his task as a beta tester seriously. Iron Man made fun of him endlessly for even bothering to report complaints and glitches, but Loki usually all but ignored him.

Considering the down time they all had, Thor took the opportunity to study their party menu, enjoying the sight of their obvious progress since joining up together:

**God of Thunder**, Aesir, lv. 11 Mystic Knight, [no title]

Skills: Weapon Imbue – [Fire, Ice, Lightning], Armor Imbue – [Fire]

**God of Mischief**, Jötun, lv. 11 Illusionist, [no title]

Skills: Illusion Magic – [Calm, Blink, Detect, Decoy]

**Iron Man**, Human, lv. 11 Engineer, [Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist]

Skills: Construct – [Drone, Turret, Barrier]

**War Machine**, Human, lv. 11 Cannoneer, [no title]

Skills: Open Fire, Combine, Add Status

Upon seeing the group so close in levels and abilities, Thor couldn't help but grin. Loki in particular had managed to find ways to increase the usefulness of his subclass in battle. His cheers upon gaining the Decoy spell had to be heard to be believed. Rather than something like _detecting lies_, he could make an illusionary copy of himself that would distract enemies and have them try to attack the illusion instead of a party member. Unfortunately, as with Blink, the spell cost far too much MP to cast too often in battle, and its casting time was just as slow.

Iron Man had helped in that regard, buying rare, enchanted relics at the auction house. The engineer had more than enough gold to do so, and Thor had no complaints if his brother was being spoiled. While Loki had spent his money there on a phoenix down (an item to revive someone within ten seconds of their HP hitting 0. The group had argued endlessly on if it would still work in their situation), Iron Man had bought two rare relics to aid with Loki's spellcasting. The circlet upon Loki's head lowered the MP cost of his spells by 35%, and the golden choker lowered their casting time by 50%. Thor didn't want to know how much those two relics alone had cost Iron Man (Loki's phoenix down had been far too expensive in Thor's opinion), but the skyrocket in the engineer's charity score after giving them to Loki was more than enough to give Thor an idea.

Speaking of which, the charity and infamy scores had bothered Thor to no end after Loki informed him of what they did. Thor had since then convinced Loki that rather than sell all of their old equipment, they would begin giving it away to whomever they came across. Their charity scores had boosted enough to overtake their infamy because of this, something which Thor had been immensely relieved about. The infamy score was a grim reminder of what Thor had done. The memory of the berserker Jötun's death continued to unsettle him, and was something he always tried to shove to the furthest reaches of his mind.

"Well, would you look at that!" Iron Man's voice brought Thor out of his darkening mood, and he turned to the engineer for the welcome distraction. "The first guild has been formed!"

"Guild?" Thor questioned, looking across the bonfire War Machine was cooking over at his brother and Iron Man.

"It's pretty much an organization that people can put together in game," Loki responded. "They can build a headquarters to function from, run a business, oversee their own quests, the like."

"Can we not do that as a party?"

War Machine looked up from their food, a slight smirk on his face. "Nope. Parties are only for working together in battle. Guilds serve other purposes like Mischief mentioned. For instance, we could put together a guild and build a restaurant. There, I would be able to sell my food to those who wanted it. It's also convenient for those who want to quickly put together a party with new people, or others that they can grow to trust." War Machine shrugged at the end of the explanation.

"Yep, and it looks like our first ever guild is called S.H.I.E.L.D.," Iron Man finished for his friend.

"What do you suppose the acronym stands for?" Loki questioned, hand to his chin in thought.

"Hell if I know. Whatever it is, I'm sure they thought they were being clever about it."

Curiosity piqued by the new development, Thor checked the forums for himself, seeing the announcement put up. It was posted by a player by the name of Hawkeye, discussing what the SHIELD guild aimed to accomplish. Thor thought their plans were noble indeed, with the group working to discover more information about how Thanatos was controlling everything, what and where these infinity stones were, and how to best go about these plans. Invites were sent out by current members of the guild to people who they thought would be beneficial to their cause.

"I suppose this means we cannot merely walk up and ask for admittance," Thor sighed. His party had made substantial progress during their time on Midgard, so perhaps one of the SHIELD members would see their efforts and recruit them. One could hope.

There was a noticeable cringe from Iron Man, but he hid it well. "I don't know, doesn't it seem kind of sketchy to you guys? Everything they talk about in the announcement is just vague, and their recruitment process is a little out there." Beside him, Loki was nodding in agreement.

As War Machine finished their food and the four began to dig in, Thor couldn't help thinking about SHIELD. Naturally, his thoughts were voiced, and his party members all chimed in to help him out with his confusions. For one, a guild could not be formed on a whim. An item—an extremely _rare_ item, as Iron Man stressed—was required. It was a journal, with which the leader and second-in-command of the guild would be written down, along with the guild name. Members would be written in at the guildmaster's approval. When asked how one obtained such an object, Iron Man informed him that it was a rare reward from some of the more difficult quests, and a rare, expensive find at the auction house. If Thor thought Loki's relics were expensive, supposedly the guild book's price would blow his mind, then.

So the question was, how did these SHIELD people get their hands on a guild book? War Machine was quick to claim dumb luck, and the rest of the group wholly agreed with him.

Intrigued by the game's sudden development (there was a guild put together solely to take down Thanatos and save everyone, how cool was that?), Thor took another glance at the forums, finding a new one posted already.

The post was from a player named Captain America. While Thor initially only clicked on it out of curiosity, the message in the post itself worried him.

"Perhaps you three should take a look at this post here," Thor suggested, worry seeping into his voice.

"What is it?" Loki asked with a skeptical tone, checking the forums nevertheless.

"A man who likes America far too much, clearly," Iron Man chuckled, looking at Loki's screen over his shoulder. "Someone's really into freedom and liberty and all that jazz."

"And _someone_ likes Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man' way too much, but you don't hear the rest of us complaining," War Machine responded in kind.

"Black Sabbath is the height of classic rock and you know it. No other band compares to them!" Iron Man claimed, mock offence written over his features.

"You said the same thing last week about AC/DC."

"I myself am quite partial to Led Zeppelin," Thor admitted, only to be ignored as Loki got the group's attention back.

"Guys, my brother has a point about this post. Have you even looked at it past the poster's name? One of the Captain's party members has gone missing, and another appears to have fallen victim to a glitch of some sort."

Iron Man put a relaxed smile on his face, shoving himself back into Loki's personal space to read the forum. The smile fell into a more neutral expression as his eyes scanned the post's words, then promptly fell into a thoughtful frown.

_Forum post by: **Captain America**_

_Subject: Missing Person; Bonus Boss of Alfheim_

\- _Hello. I understand that many of you are reluctant to put yourselves in danger, and I'm not asking you to do so unless you feel secure enough in your abilities. If you feel you can help though, I would greatly appreciate it. My party members and I traveled the portal to Alfheim two days ago, under-leveled and unprepared. We are missing a member already and are unable to locate him. If you see anyone by the name of **Falcon**, I implore you to message me and let me know. None of my messages are reaching him, but he is not showing up on the death list in the rankings. He's alive out there somewhere, and again, if anyone sees him, please let him know to message either **Captain America** or **Winter Soldier.**_

\- _I apologize for yet another request, but what I am about to say is urgent. My party has grown strong enough to handle the enemies of Alfheim by now; the average level I would expect for someone to safely travel is 10. We encountered what appears to be a dungeon of some sort. It is located in the middle of the Vast Forest, and the enemies there are unlike anything else we've encountered in Alfheim so far. We believe it to be a sort of bonus dungeon. If anyone knows what I am talking about and can confirm, please message me._

\- _The point I am trying to make is that one of my other party members has succumbed to a glitch. When we attempted to face off against the boss at the end of the dungeon, something happened. I'm still not even certain_ _what it was I witnessed, but it wasn't good. Our party member glitched into the boss. That's the only way I can think of to describe it. We have checked the death list, and have not seen him on there either. We don't know what to do about the situation, and Winter Soldier and I aren't strong enough to take the bonus boss on by ourselves. If anyone out there is above level 10 and willing to come to our aid, you would be doing us an honor that we can never repay. I worry that our party member's life depends on how that bonus boss is handled, and at this moment I can't allow someone's life to be lost over a glitch._

"That is by far the unluckiest party I have ever laid eyes on," was all Iron Man said after a moment of silence.

Thor stood from his spot, standing before his three party members.

"I don't know about you three, but I would like to aid that man. I can't even imagine the torment I would be feeling if those events happened to any of you." Against his will, Thor's gaze stuck on Loki. If his little brother went missing or became part of some _glitch_, then Thor knew he would be losing his head. The pain and desperation of this Captain America truly stood out to Thor, and he was going to aid the man, with or without Iron Man and War Machine.

"Hey, uh, you're staring at Mischief with those angry big brother eyes again, Point Break," Iron Man commented casually, though he stood from his spot as well. "Listen, I can already tell what you're thinking: 'If this happened to my little bro, then I would be devastated'. Am I right?" When Thor made no comment, Iron Man continued, "And that's why you want to help them. All I have to say is, why are we still sitting here?"

The final comment brought Thor pause, having expected Iron Man to try and talk him out of his decision.

"The portal to Alfheim's not even that far. We can reach it in maybe two hours' time. Plus, the four of us are all level 11, and by the sound of it, Cap's got at least one party member who hasn't been incapacitated in some way. I can't imagine a party of six would lose against a bonus boss from the game's second world."

The four of them were all standing now, and no one seemed openly displeased about traveling to Alfheim. In fact, Loki looked positively thrilled, though Thor knew his brother well enough to realize that it was because he'd finally get to see somewhere besides Midgard. Well, that and the fact that a major glitch in the game's programming appeared to be involved. If Loki's conversations with Iron Man told Thor anything, it was that his brother _loved_ hearing about these parts of the game.

"I still say we should find a healer of some sort. Mischief's potion hoard can't sustain us forever," War Machine commented, ever pushing for better recovery methods.

"It's a hi-potion hoard now, excuse you," Loki muttered, not that War Machine paid him any mind.

"Hey, if we're lucky, then I'll be able to construct that healing drone soon!" Iron Man responded in good cheer, already strolling off in the direction of the Alfheim portal, Loki right at his side.

Thor gave War Machine a good-natured pat on the back, snickering as he heard the cannoneer groan and follow after the group.

If that was the only complaint they were going to have over the matter, then Thor had every reason to be cheery. The four had been discussing moving on to a different world anyways, Midgard's enemies having long become too easy for them to properly level-grind off of. A quick Calm spell from Loki, then a single hit from Thor, War Machine, and Iron Man each was enough to defeat even the strongest of Midgard's enemies at their level. Helping out someone in need was all the incentive the group needed to move on, the prospect of Captain America's many party mishaps doing nothing to deter them.

With all being said and done, the four made it to Alfheim's world portal in no time, and with that, Midgard was left behind.


	6. A Very Smashing Glitch

Since the day Thanatos had made his grim announcement, Steve Rogers had wondered if any of this was worth it. He was an old man, not expected to live more than five years now with his age, and the only reason he had agreed to participate in this game was so he could have that one chance to feel young again. Ninety-three was not an age Steve had ever anticipated living to, and he knew that some days he was more coherent than others because of it. Despite all of this, he had signed up to be a beta tester for a VR game. Maybe it was peer pressure from Sam and Bucky. Perhaps it was the encouraging words of his wife, Peggy. Either way, he had made his decision, and now here he was, stuck in a disaster.

They had obtained three headsets to test out, and being the old, reminiscing man that he was, Bucky had wanted them to try it out together. It would be like old times, the two of them working in the same unit back during World War II. They could finally show Sam what it was like to work as a ground troop, the man having only ever worked as a pilot during his own enlistment. Sam had not helped in the slightest, only encouraging Bucky's enthusiasm.

Steve had not anticipated the game to accommodate for their old ages, giving both him and Bucky the bodies they once had in their early thirties. The first hours of the game had felt so freeing, and during every moment, Steve desperately wished they had gotten a fourth headset so Peggy could have experienced it with them. It wasn't that he hadn't tried to give his set to her, it was just that her condition with Alzheimer's was unpredictable, and Sam himself had mentioned that he wasn't sure how well an older person with her condition would handle the game. Despite this, his wife had always been stubborn, even now in her old age, and she was determined that Steve would get to have one last adventure with his two closest friends.

Every moment, Steve would try to remind himself of these facts. He would look back at the completion of his character creation: The warrior class had lead to the defender subclass, and Steve was nothing if not a defender. He remembered looking at his mirror image in that blank room, seeing the young, handsome man he had been during the war. If he was to do anything with the game, he would be a protector for his friends. That was how it had always been, and no amount of time would erase that memory from his mind.

They had appeared in the game together, Steve realizing that Bucky and Sam had found the perfect sub-classes for themselves as well. Steve could just imagine Bucky heading straight for the rogue class, seeing the thief subclass and selecting it instantly. The stealthy scout-work Bucky had done during the war was something Steve suspected wouldn't ever leave him, just as Steve felt it would always be his job to act as a protector. Sam had, as usual, taken a different approach to everything; Steve had expected nothing less of him. The machinist class, and the beast master subclass. The decision had given Steve a good laugh after they partied up. Somewhere along the lines, Sam Wilson had grown to adore the animals around him, and now he was looking to use their aid in battle.

Thanatos' speech had dampened their moods significantly, the threat of death following the three even in the world of a video game. Evidence of peoples' deaths had been all over the place, and none of the war veterans had taken to it too well. Steve could remember the years of therapy he had gone through to recover from WWII, all of the times where he had been terrified out of his mind, lost in the grips of PTSD. It had taken so many years to work past his issues and live a comfortable life with Peggy and his friends. The fact that Thanatos' speech had affected him so badly had been crushing.

Bucky took the news the worst. Of the two of them, he had suffered the most during their time in the war, having been captured by enemy forces and tortured to work for them. Steve could remember the years after the war, always visiting Bucky, doing his best to be there for him and help him recover, but his friend had never been the same. The cheerful, eager Bucky he had once known was cold and stoic. He hardly spoke, and it had broken Steve's heart every time he saw him.

What little Bucky had been able to recover over their many years of life had reversed in an instant. The first two days of the game were spent in silence, Bucky seemingly trapped in his own world, Steve and Sam doing their best to be there for him while dealing with their own resurfaced issues.

That was when they found him: At the edge of a portal stood a man, studying the structure alone. The three war veterans had approached the man, who had initially acted in fear and raised his dagger in defense. It had been an understandable reaction, considering the man appeared to have no party members, approached by three possibly dangerous men. Bucky had been tense, and he remembered Sam trying to calm him down as Steve approached the defensive man at the portal.

They had talked, and the man had joined their party. He was an alchemist, and the three had welcomed him with open arms, eager to have a dedicated healer in their party. When questioned, the man—Doctor Incredible, his avatar name was—had only received one headset to test out, which Steve had thought to be a bit odd. Most of the people they had seen thus far had entered the game with at least one other person they knew. Seeing a group of people willing to add him to their party, Doctor Incredible's initial distress had dropped considerably.

The Doctor had been studying the portal, which lead to a new world called Alfheim. The concept of the portal intrigued him to no end, and the things he had to say about the game gave much away about the man himself. Later, before things had gone to hell, Steve had convinced Doc to reveal that he was, in fact, an actual doctor (several times over! The man had too many PhD's for Steve to remember). The reveal was not surprising, as everything new they saw would have to be stopped and studied in order to satisfy their new friend.

Alfheim had proven to be a problem when they decided to visit. The enemies were stronger than expected, but with much effort, the group could defeat them. The experience and gold gain were worthwhile, so they saw no need to return to Midgard. It was only after Sam had gone missing that they truly began to worry about their situation.

Bucky had nearly lost it when he awoke to find Sam missing from the two's shared tent, and it had taken the combined efforts of Steve and Doc to calm him. Even then, he had resorted to skulking around the perimeter of their campsite, Steve and Doc desperately checking the list of players who had been killed, not seeing the name Falcon anywhere.

While Bucky had never been as close to the younger man as Steve was, he still cared for him. After Peggy had been admitted to the nursing home, Steve and Bucky had followed her so that the three of them could still all be together. Sam was the man who took primary care of them, and somehow Steve had hit it off with him famously. While the two took to each other much slower, Bucky eventually followed Steve's lead and befriended their caretaker. It helped that they and Peggy could all relate to the man, who had originally been a pilot himself before leaving the force.

Naturally, Sam missing from their campsite had not sat well with either of them.

Sam was nowhere in sight, he apparently wasn't dead, and his inbox wasn't open to taking messages, even from his party members. It was as though he had disappeared entirely from the game. Doc had theorized that perhaps he had been logged out somehow. It was the only explanation they could think of, Sam having disappeared from sight, not being dead, and still being a member of their party. Steve could only pray that this was true; that Sam had managed to escape the game and was getting help.

The thought had not been reassuring enough for Bucky though, who demanded a thorough search of Alfheim for his lost comrade. They had agreed, knowing escape from the game was unlikely, and that was when they found the bonus dungeon. That was when they had lost not one, but now two party members.

Steve now sat by a small campfire set up by the Vast Forest bonus dungeon (an unoriginal name if he had ever heard one). His party of two had suddenly grown to a party of six. Skepticism had been his primary feeling about the group, but their skills and levels showed that they were capable enough. They were well-rounded in their abilities as well, an engineer, mystic knight, illusionist, and cannoneer sounding like they would work well with a defender and thief.

The group had wanted to know the details of everything that had happened to his party, and he had eagerly recounted the tale, as unbelievable as it sounded:

After encountering the boss of the dungeon they all sat by, Doc had thrown one of his item concoctions with his Mix ability, one that would add a variety of status effects to the boss. Steve wasn't sure how to describe what happened afterwards. Something had flashed in their visions, as though the ever-realistic graphics of the game were failing, and before they knew it, the boss was trying to attack the alchemist. There had been screaming, and roaring, and then Doc was just gone.

"Is it possible that this is the same thing that happened to Falcon?" the man named War Machine had asked, but Steve doubted that.

Confused and upset over the loss of another party member, Bucky had tried to attack the bonus boss. There had been nothing Steve could do before a single punch from the large, green beast knocked Bucky across the room. His HP dropped into critical status from the single hit. Steve swore he had felt his heart stop in that moment, convinced that he would be the only member of his party left. Bucky had recovered, thankfully, and they knew when to retreat. The boss had taken chase, but Bucky's passive ability as a thief, Flee I, increased the party's speed when running from battle. They had escaped the bonus dungeon, spending hours hiding in a tent for safety.

His new party members looked shocked at the revelation that the bonus boss was _that_ strong. The mystic knight kept giving indiscrete glances at the illusionist, much to Steve's confusion. The engineer, Iron Man, had seen the looks between the three, and had helpfully supplied God of Thunder's big brother attitude towards God of Mischief. And really, the theme naming probably should have given their relation away, but Steve knew he still wasn't 100% in his right mind.

Despite how obviously shaken he was from his current experiences, the group had tried their best to make him feel comfortable. They accepted that their other new party member, Winter Soldier, was off dealing with the situation in his own way. There was no pressure coming from the group, even if some of their attitudes were less than desirable.

Steve didn't like Iron Man very much, his lackadaisical attitude grinding on Steve's nerves. Where War Machine was nothing but nervous energy, eager to aid in any way he could, Iron Man made jokes and acted as though nothing was wrong. The brothers, which Iron Man again helpfully supplied as "hard core Norse god role-players", were significantly more bearable. God of Thunder was eager to head straight into a fight, which admittedly made Steve nervous, but at least he had spirit. God of Mischief was more along the lines of Doc. His curiosity was clear as Steve tried to explain the bonus boss and the glitches he kept seemingly coming across.

All of this served to remind Steve that he was dealing with people far younger than him. Sure, his and Bucky's appearances had changed to look younger, but he could still tell the differences between that of an old man and a young adult in spirit. Mischief was by far the youngest, likely late high school/early college age, explaining that inherent curiosity and deadpan attitude he displayed. The others appeared of similar age to Steve's avatar; late twenties or early thirties.

Seeing the way Mischief and Iron Man acted around each other, Steve already begrudgingly admitted that the two would get along famously with Doc. Or, at least Mischief would. There was likely bias in there, but Steve just wasn't seeing the appeal of Iron Man. He wanted to say the engineer would grow on him eventually, but only time would tell.

"So, when's the Frost King going to come and sweep the Frost Queen off her feet?" Iron Man drawled.

Steve hated that he knew _exactly_ who those nicknames were referring to.

"Winter Soldier is far too old to be wooing any of you," Steve deadpanned.

"How old could he possibly be? I doubt anyone over the age of fifty is going to be playing a game like this," Iron Man snickered in response.

_Wouldn't you be surprised if I ever told you?_ Steve thought to himself.

He took a good look at God of Mischief in response to all of this. The kid was pointedly ignoring the conversation, discussing something with his brother and War Machine. Steve hadn't noticed it right away, but once he had, the fact that he wasn't looking at a light elf was a little shocking. The shapeshifting was a surprise, and Steve was beginning to wonder what the Jötun truly looked like without the passive ability.

Iron Man obviously had no idea what age Bucky was, only making a comparison between the frost giant and the Winter Soldier, but the thought was enough to gross Steve out. Bucky was old enough to be the kid's great-grandfather.

Anxiety had begun to filter through Steve with the addition of the new party members, and he couldn't describe the relief he felt when Bucky had returned from his patrolling. Introductions had been made, War Machine being the only one to show how put off he was by the thief's stoic nature. Iron Man had predictably made light of Bucky's attitude, annoying Steve with his ignorance, while Thunder had been entirely oblivious to everything. Mischief merely nodded at Bucky from his spot beside his older brother, Steve getting a clear anti-social vibe off of him.

Either way, the party was together now. Bucky was wary of his new companions, having yet to say anything since his arrival to the campsite, and Steve noticed similar vibes from War Machine. The latter at least attempted some form of polite conversation, which Steve appreciated.

"Is it time for us to enter the dungeon, yet?" Thunder questioned, grin upon his face. His fingers twitched at the thought of battle. "I believe it would be best if we tried to rescue your friend as quickly as possible."

Steve heard War Machine mumble something about "getting a damn healer, finally", and realized that he must have seen Doc's alchemist subclass in their new party menu. Their current _lack_ of dedicated healer worried Steve to no end, but Thunder assured him that his younger brother was capable of keeping the team from harm with his illusions and assortment of different potions. That, on top of Steve's defender abilities, gave Thunder more than enough optimism about surviving the fight. Steve only wished that he shared the man's endless cheer.

"We need a strategy in order to defeat this thing," Steve admitted, trying to take charge of the situation. "This boss will be harder to defeat without proper planning. That's how my team lost so quickly."

"While I agree your team was likely underprepared to face such a boss, your biggest setback was caused by a glitch, not your own shortcomings," Mischief replied, giving Steve a bored look.

"And we should be prepared in case something like that happens again," Steve pushed.

Thunder gave a good look at Mischief, which the younger of the two quickly noticed and walked away from.

"I know what you're thinking, and you're not leaving me out here, brother," Mischief grumbled, not looking his brother's way. He stomped over to Iron Man, crossing his arms and staring at the rest of the party hard. "You can't just suddenly change your mind about needing me on the team like that!"

War Machine spoke up, putting a tentative arm to Thunder's shoulder. "Hey, if this boss is as strong as Cap says it is, then you _know_ we're going to need Mischief. Blink and Decoy are too valuable for us to go without if the boss can knock our HP out in a single hit."

"Winter Soldier _is_ a thief, though," Iron Man piped up. Steve noticed Bucky giving the engineer a wary look. "A thief's defense is considerably low for a physical fighter, and a defender, mystic knight, and cannoneer will be able to weather the hit better."

"And if the boss strikes my brother?" Thunder asked. "My brother, whose subclass has the lowest HP and defense in the game?"

"_Second_ lowest defense," Mischief interrupted.

"Why would he be in range for getting hit in the first place?" Iron Man countered. "His spells reach too far for that. You need to get over this over-protective big brother nonsense and let us put together a proper plan."

"As much as I'd like to stay out of this, I'm going to have to agree with Iron Man," Steve said, and didn't _that_ feel strange to admit? "If Mischief's magic can stop the boss from hitting any of us, then we can't keep him out of this, you said so yourself. I know you want to protect your family, Thunder, but there are other lives at stake here."

Thunder gave both Steve and Iron Man a tight glare, but it softened as Mischief subtly raised a finger and cast a spell. With Thunder's sudden annoyed glance at his brother, Steve suspected that it must have been some sort of calming illusion. He would need to better study his new party members' abilities if he wanted to make proper battle plans. Would this spell work on the boss?

"No," Mischief gave Steve an incredulous look, as though he thought him to be the stupidest man on the planet. "Calm only works on targets of equal or lower level to me. I'm guessing the glitch boss won't be fitting those requirements."

And that was one plan immediately off the table. What Mischief _could _do though, was create an illusionary double on someone, which would absorb a hit and disappear. He could also create an illusionary double of himself that was meant to act as a distraction for enemies. There was no doubt in Steve's mind that both of these spells would be integral to their survival. That, along with Steve's own increased defense and ability to take hits for other players, would absorb most of the damage dealt by the ferocious boss.

With that, a plan had been put together. Steve had tried to hold control of the situation, but Iron Man would counter him at every turn, doing nothing to endear the engineer to him. Still, through much strife, he felt comfortable with their plan:

Bucky would scout ahead of the party in the dungeon, being able to keep an eye on approaching enemy encounters. After alerting the party to the issue, he would use his Flee passive ability to allow the whole group to escape with hopefully minimal damage. If necessary, Mischief would use his Decoy spell to distract stubborn enemies that they couldn't get the drop on.

Once the group reached the boss room, they would try to get a preemptive strike on it. Iron Man offhandedly mentioned that someone of the assassin subclass would be useful for that endeavor, but Steve was quick to shut him down since there was no need to dwell on what they _didn't_ have.

Beforehand, Iron Man would use his Examine passive ability to get needed information from the boss. If possible, Thunder would imbue his weapon with the boss's weakness, and War Machine would prepare an ammo combination to launch for important status effects. They suspected they would survive without these if necessary, but Steve was hoping it wouldn't come to that.

Blink would be cast on the four frontline fighters, and then the party would strike while the boss was caught unaware. A Decoy would be summoned as the fight began, and Iron Man would construct as many barriers to protect the group with as possible. Steve would be on permanent guard duty, with Bucky using potions split between himself and Mischief to keep his health up. Bucky and Mischief, having the highest speed stats of the group, would have double healing duty, though neither complained. With any luck, the boss would fall in no time, and they could begin to figure out what happened to Doctor Incredible.

Steve only hoped that defeating the boss didn't mean killing Doc. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if that happened. War Machine reminded him that party members could not harm each other when this fear was brought up, but did that fact still stand when your party member had glitched to become one with a bonus boss? The boss had nearly killed Bucky, after all. War Machine didn't have an answer to this and remained silent.

Their trip through the bonus dungeon was uneventful, Bucky keeping them safe with his scouting. Thunder looked none-too-happy about having to run from any battles they came across, but his brother kept him in line easily enough. It was Iron Man that Steve was beginning to grow nervous about.

As they entered the dungeon and made their way further through it, Iron Man's laid-back, joking attitude had mostly disappeared. There was distress in his features, mostly in the way he hung close to Mischief and held hushed conversations with him. At one point, Mischief's eyes had gone wide with shock at something Iron Man said to him, and it worried Steve. Iron Man had a secret that he just shared with the illusionist about their situation, and as much as Steve thought it necessary for the whole group to know, he didn't want to start anything. They were already over halfway through the dungeon, and beginning a conflict over something like this would be too detrimental to their cause. The issue would have to be brought up later, and Steve made a mental note not to let Iron Man get away without explaining himself to everyone else.

Eventually, the group made it, and Steve could feel the underlying anxiety within him. The fear of the boss was present; the memory of Doc disappearing just like that, Bucky almost being killed in a single hit. It was nearly suffocating now that they were just outside the boss room. Iron Man was peaking into the room with Bucky beside him, already checking on the boss's information, and Steve couldn't help the feeling of just wanting to either run or get this over with. He didn't want to know if they could beat it. He didn't want to know if Doc would die from this.

He could feel the death grip he had on his shield and let loose a breath to try and calm himself. His body was far too tense, and he needed to be relaxed in order to protect Bucky, War Machine, and Thunder once the battle began. This was no time to let old memories and fears hold him back.

It really didn't help that Iron Man looked scared out of his mind as he took in the boss. Steve knew it wasn't because of the information he was seeing from it, either. The engineer _knew_ something about all of this that he only decided to tell Mischief, and that particular god did not look inclined to reveal that information any time soon. Steve was wishing now more than ever that he had called Iron Man out on whatever was going on, but he knew it was far too late now. One wrong move, and the boss would be on them in seconds.

"Alright guys," Iron Man whispered to the group, retreating from the boss room's entrance with Bucky. The rest of them had been waiting a safe way away from the room so they could plan without alerting it. "So, big guy's got no elemental weakness, or really any weakness at all. I say it's a no-go on those status effects, Warhead." Everyone grumbled at this information, though Steve suspected that they all had been debating this possibility long before this. "His HP and defense are high, and magic attacks will probably do next to nothing to him, not that any of us use offensive magic."

"My brother's mystic knight abilities do count. They add physical damage on top of an offensive magic attack to calculate damage," Mischief spoke up, giving a quick glance to address Thunder. "You're better off not bothering to use any of your abilities and focusing more on dodging and attacking."

"That I can do, brother," Thunder agreed, though he didn't look particularly pleased about it.

"Do you know how likely the boss is to fall for my Decoy? We haven't found out if there's a level limit to that spell like there is on Calm, yet," Mischief continued, looking back at Iron Man.

"I don't know," he admitted. "The boss is currently level 21," most peoples' eyes widened in shock at the revelation, "but your Decoy has worked on enemies at least three levels above you so far. I know there's a limit to it, but it's just not coming to me at the moment."

"We can throw the Decoy in there anyways once we get the drop on the boss," Steve added. "I trust Mischief will know right away if it works or not. It'll just give him more time to focus on Blink spells and potions if the boss doesn't fall for it."

As Mischief nodded in agreement to his statement, Iron Man cut back in, "It's the Hulk."

"Excuse me?"

"The boss, Cap, it's called the Hulk." Iron Man did not look comforted by admitting this at all, and Steve saw the wary look only Mischief gave him. What did they know? It was driving Steve nuts that they knew something that could potentially put the group in further danger.

"That doesn't matter now," War Machine finally spoke.

"That's right," chimed in Thunder, "we should get this over with and free your friend!"

Steve exchanged a look with Bucky, who stood back a few feet from the group. There was hesitance in Bucky's face, but he still nodded in agreement. With that, Steve walked forward and put a hand to his friend's shoulder.

"It's okay, we've got it this time. I promise I'll keep you safe, and we'll figure out what happened to Doc."

"I wish I could believe you," Bucky murmured, only loud enough for Steve to hear.

He smiled at Bucky, tightening his grip on his shoulder before letting it go. The smile on his face was strained, Steve knew it, but he doubted anyone besides Thunder would be running into the battle with much cheer.

"You know what to do, guys," Steve announced to the rest, hefting his shield up in his hand.

Already Mischief was casting Blink on the four frontline fighters, Iron Man constructing two drones in further preparation. With that done, Bucky stood at the boss room entrance. Steve could see the deep breath his friend took before sneaking in, Thunder and War Machine right behind him. With a sudden roar of fury, Steve knew the first strikes had been made, and he ran into the room with his Protect ability already enabled.

The battle moved almost blindly fast, the boss's speed stat enough to keep Steve on edge the entire time. It was too difficult to keep everyone protected at once, and he eventually found himself stuck on the other side of the boss—the Hulk—alone with Bucky. His shield was absorbing most of the damage the Hulk struck to him, his Guard Boost I passive ability was aiding greatly in that endeavor, but that didn't change the fact that the Hulk hit so damn _hard_. It felt more like Steve was spending all of his time taking hits to protect Bucky, while Bucky was stuck healing him instead of damaging the Hulk.

This wasn't necessarily going to plan, and Steve couldn't help but sigh in relief every time the Hulk turned to strike him, only for a mirror image of Steve to appear and take the blow. Seeing the sudden construction of a metallic barrier brought a similar amount of relief, as it created an obstacle for the Hulk, giving Steve more time to prepare himself before the barrier broke. Those were the only times Bucky could actually set his full attention on attacking the boss, and they were unfortunately few and far between.

Someone screamed just as another person was thrown across the room, slamming hard into the walls of the dungeon, but Steve couldn't take his attention off of the boss. He couldn't afford to lose Bucky, and Doc's life depended on this.

They fought for who knew how long. Steve's HP was constantly at risk of falling to zero, and Bucky was losing himself. Steve had lost track of what the others were doing long ago, but then it happened: He couldn't get his Guard ability back up before the Hulk went to strike him again. He took a direct blow from the beast, and this time it was him who was crashing into the walls of the dungeon.

Everything hurt, yet he was sure he was still alive. He was far too afraid to check his HP, knowing he had to be near death, and faintly he could hear Bucky's cries of "_No!_" beside him. Things were loud, so very loud, and Steve was having a hard time keeping his breathing in check. He was hyperventilating, he could feel it, but now he was in someone's arms. It was comforting, especially as his vision went completely dark and things finally quieted down.

… … …

The darkness didn't last nearly as long as Steve had hoped it would. Something sparked from inside him, and he could _feel_ the sudden surge in energy rushing through his body.

His eyes popped open just then as he desperately inhaled a breath. Wildly, his eyes searched around the room, looking for something, _anything_ showing that they were safe. Someone was there, holding him close, but they couldn't let their guard down, especially not him, and—

"Steve, Steve it's okay," Bucky shushed quietly. Steve realized he was gripping Bucky's arms for dear life, and with that revelation came the full return of his eye sight.

Things cleared considerably after that. Steve was still shaken, and Bucky was barely holding himself together as well. Guilt rushed through him at that, Steve always having promised himself to protect him, but he was so confused. What had happened?

That was when he saw God of Mischief kneeling beside them both, preparing an item. A similar rush of energy flowed through him as the hi-potion took effect. A quick check on his HP showed that it was now about two-thirds full, and Mischief was already working to prepare yet another hi-potion.

"You're damn _lucky_ I bothered to buy that phoenix down back at the auction house. Do you know how expensive those things are? You shouldn't have let your guard down like that! What kind of defender just stands there and takes a direct hit?" Mischief scolded as he used the second hi-potion, but Steve couldn't bring himself to take offense to the kid's nervous rambling.

But wait. A phoenix down? Then that meant…

"I died?" Steve asked, grip tightening on Bucky's arms. He could feel Bucky stiffen up beside him, his breath hitching.

"Of _course_ you did! Your health was already under half, and you let yourself take a direct _hit _from that damn thing! Your death was inevitable!" Mischief continued to scold, even as Steve's HP was brought back to full.

"But, that means revival items work then?"

Mischief's scowl turned into more of a thoughtful frown. "Trust me, I didn't think it would work either. I knew there was only ten seconds to use a phoenix down when someone's HP reached zero, at least before they suffered from what was _supposed_ to be the punishment for death, but… Well, I figured that would have changed after Thanatos interfered with everything. Consider yourself lucky that they still work."

With the revelation that Steve had come _that_ close to dying, he didn't immediately realize that the three of them were casually having this discussion while still in the boss room. The roars from the Hulk couldn't be heard, and it was now that he was hearing the murmurs of his other three party members behind them.

"The Hulk," Steve choked out, sitting up and out of Bucky's grasp. "What about Doc? Is he okay?"

Mischief moved aside so that Steve could see beyond him, and sure enough, the Hulk was gone. Instead, he saw Thunder, War Machine, and Iron Man standing before an unconscious man on the ground. Iron Man had his head in his hands, apparently trying to come out of some sort of anxiety attack, but the other two were fussing over their new arrival.

And Steve recognized that armor; that face. The Hulk was gone, and in its place was Doctor Incredible.


End file.
